Terracotta Aqua Painting
2010s Contemporary Animal Paintings
Gold Leaf
1980s Contemporary Landscape Prints
Lithograph
People Also Browsed
2010s Impressionist Landscape Paintings
Color, Canvas
1990s Contemporary Landscape Prints
Lithograph
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Outsider and Self Taught Art
Canvas, Oak
Mid-20th Century Italian Paintings
Canvas, Wood
1980s Contemporary Landscape Prints
Lithograph
Vintage 1950s Paintings
Paint
Antique Early 19th Century European Gothic Revival Religious Items
Zinc, Iron
Antique Late 19th Century Swedish Romantic Paintings
Canvas
Late 20th Century French Paintings
Other
20th Century Paintings
Canvas, Walnut, Paint
1980s Contemporary Landscape Prints
Lithograph
Antique Early 19th Century North American High Victorian Paintings
Paint
Antique Mid-19th Century French American Classical Paintings
Paint
Antique Late 19th Century Danish Romantic Paintings
Canvas
Mid-20th Century English Other Paintings
Canvas, Wood
20th Century Belgian Baroque Revival Paintings
Canvas
Recent Sales
1980s Contemporary Landscape Prints
Lithograph
A Close Look at contemporary Art
Used to refer to a time rather than an aesthetic, Contemporary art generally describes pieces created after 1970 or being made by living artists anywhere in the world. This immediacy means it encompasses art responding to the present moment through diverse subjects, media and themes. Contemporary painting, sculpture, photography, performance, digital art, video and more frequently includes work that is attempting to reshape current ideas about what art can be, from Felix Gonzalez-Torres’s use of candy to memorialize a lover he lost to AIDS-related complications to Jenny Holzer’s ongoing “Truisms,” a Conceptual series that sees provocative messages printed on billboards, T-shirts, benches and other public places that exist outside of formal exhibitions and the conventional “white cube” of galleries.
Contemporary art has been pushing the boundaries of creative expression for years. Its disruption of the traditional concepts of art are often aiming to engage viewers in complex questions about identity, society and culture. In the latter part of the 20th century, contemporary movements included Land art, in which artists like Robert Smithson and Michael Heizer create large-scale, site-specific sculptures, installations and other works in soil and bodies of water; Sound art, with artists such as Christian Marclay and Susan Philipsz centering art on sonic experiences; and New Media art, in which mass media and digital culture inform the work of artists such as Nam June Paik and Rafaël Rozendaal.
The first decades of the 21st century have seen the growth of Contemporary African art, the revival of figurative painting, the emergence of street art and the rise of NFTs, unique digital artworks that are powered by blockchain technology.
Major Contemporary artists practicing now include Ai Weiwei, Cecily Brown, David Hockney, Yayoi Kusama, Jeff Koons, Takashi Murakami and Kara Walker.
Find a collection of Contemporary prints, photography, paintings, sculptures and other art on 1stDibs.
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