Contemporary Arts in the Philippine Regions

Unit 1: Environmental Scanning

Lesson 1: What is Contemporary Art?
What is ART?
 Art is both a product and a process of a creative decision of an artist in his or her attempt to be involved in a
dialogue and to articulate his or her motivations for creation—be it the medium, style, subject, form, etc.
 Art is the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such
as painting or sculpture, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power.
 Art is creating something new, something original and something different.
 Art is life. It is creating life on a material and making inanimate objects to have life. To create art is to give
life according to Ramon Orlina a Glass Sculptor)
 ART is a product of human creativity where materials are shaped to convey a message, emotion, or idea.
 Art is the expression of one's feelings through creating something out of their imagination.
Art could be divided into 2 types:
I. Aesthetic or Fine (Major Arts) - are primarily for aesthetic enjoyment through the senses, especially
visual and auditory. It is the changing certain materials or media for aesthetic pleasure. Major arts could be
divided into visual, auditory or combined art.
VISUAL ARTS are also known as SPACE ARTS, because they occupy space.Examples are the following:
Painting -This art is expressed either by line, form, texture, value or color. It is being used as
decoration, as educational device and as advertisement. Sculpture - This art is expressed either by carving,
shaping or modeling. It deals mostly with the human figure, figurines, stands for lampshade and
pottery.Architecture - This art is expressed through rhythmic features, such as the windows, ornaments,
columns and tile flooring.
AUDITORY ARTS are also known as TIME ARTS, because they exist in time. Examples are the following:
Literature - Includes the writing of poems, short- stories, novels, plays, histories, biographies, essays.
It is also known as fine writing.Music - It is the combination of sounds. It is said to be the most dynamic,
most emotional, most universal and most abstract of all fine arts.
COMBINED or PERFORMING ARTS combine both the visual and auditory elements. They are usually
performed onstage, or on the screen. Examples are the following:
Circus - Its entertainment generally consists of displays of horsemanship; exhibitions by gymnasts,
aerialists, wild-animal trainers, and performing animals; and comic pantomime by clowns.Dance - It is
based upon music or any rhythmic sound. It is characterized by rhythmic or repetition. Opera - This is a
stage drama with orchestral accompaniment, in which music is the dominant element, the performers
singing all or most of their lines.Pantomime (MIME) - It is a dramatic representation by means of facial
expressions and body movements rather than words.Puppet Show - A theatrical performance which uses
Puppets as characters in wherein audiences perceive life and spirit from their movement, their shape, and
other aspects of their performance. Drama - This includes acting, directing, stage setting, stage lighting and
public speaking. Theater - It is one of the oldest and most popular forms of entertainment, in which actors
perform live for an audience on a stage or in an other space designated for the performance. Singing - It is
an individual or group interpretation of a song or music. Motion Picture - It is a series of images that are
projected onto a screen to create the illusion of motion. Motion pictures—also called movies, films, or the
cinema—are one of the most popular forms of entertainment, enabling people to immerse themselves in an
imaginary world for a short period of time.
II. PRACTICAL or UTILITARIAN (Minor) arts are intended for practical use or utility. It is the changing of
raw materials for utilitarian purposes. However, they must posses ornaments or artistic qualities to make
them useful and beautiful.
Industrial Art It is the changing of raw materials into some significant product for human
consumption or use. Examples of this are shell-craft, bamboo-craft, leather-craft, shoe-making, pottery-
making, sheet –metalwork, and manufacture of automobiles, home appliances and television sets.Applied
or Household Art This refers mostly to household arts such as flower arrangement, interior decoration,
dressmaking, home-making, embroidery, cooking and others.Civic Art This includes city or town planning,
maintenance and beautification of parks, plazas, roads, bridges and farms. It refers to civic planning and
beautification in order to improve the standards of living.Commercial Art This involves business
propaganda in the form of advertisements in newspapers and magazines, sign painting, billboard
announcements, leaflets, displays, poster designing, movie illustrations and many more.Graphic Art It is
anything printed from raised or sunken reliefs and plane surfaces. Agricultural Art This refers to
agronomy (crop production), horticulture (garden or orchard cultivation), husbandry (raising of cows,
carabaos, poultry and swine) and farming. Business Art This includes merchandising, accounting,
bookkeeping, typewriting, stenography, salesmanship and business administration.Distributive Art This
 Contemporary Arts in the Philippine Regions
deal with advertising, marketing, warehousing, packaging, and shipping of articles or goods.Fishery Art It
includes shallow and deep sea fishing, fish refrigeration and culture, net weaving.Medical or Clinical Art
It includes first aid treatments, medicinal manufacturing, surgery, medical operations, rehabilitation and
others.

What is contemporary art?

Contemporary refers to the now, the present moment, so at any point in history, the making of new art is
always contemporary.Contemporary art is the art of today, produced by artists who are living in the twenty-first
century. Contemporary art provides an opportunity to reflect on contemporary society and the issues relevant to
ourselves, and the world around us. Contemporary artists work in a globally influenced, culturally diverse, and
technologically advancing world.
Contemporary art is part of a cultural dialogue that concerns larger contextual frameworks such as personal
and cultural identity, family, community, and nationality.Contemporary art mirrors contemporary culture and
society, offering teachers, students, and general audiences a rich resource through which to consider current
ideas and rethink the familiar.
The work of contemporary artists is a dynamic combination of materials, methods, concepts, and subjects
that challenge traditional boundaries and defy easy definition. Diverse and eclectic, contemporary art is
distinguished by the very lack of a uniform organizing principle, ideology, or -ism. In a globally influenced,
culturally diverse, and technologically advancing world, contemporary artists give voice to the varied and
changing cultural landscape of identities, values, and beliefs.What makes today's art especially challenging is
that, like the world around us, it has become more diverse and cannot be easily defined through a list of visual
characteristics, artistic themes or cultural concerns.The result of today’s art effectively blurred the line
distinguishing fine art from more ordinary aspects of life, and forced us to reconsider art's place and purpose in
the world.
Audiences play an active role in the process of constructing meaning about works of art. Some artists say
that the viewer contributes to or even completes the artwork by offering his or her personal reflections,
experiences, opinions, and interpretations.
Characteristics of contemporary art
 Subject matter in contemporary art is not confined to representations of
human figures and landscapes. The favourite subjects in contemporary art are
children ,women or the environment,
 It is not confined in the museum.They are found in galleries, art schools,
side streets and public spaces. Contemporary art is now marketable and the
practice of selling is changed.
 Contemporary artists employ helpers to create their own art. Many
contemporary artists are self –taught and did not have formal education.
 Originality is not issue in contemporary art.An artist can get another
artist’s work and add to it, redesign or interpret it using other
materials.
 In contemporary art what is essential is the process of art-making.
The most common characteristics of contemporary art revolve around their being site-specific, process
based, collaborative and interactive. However their are also artists who use a mixture of contemporary,
indigenous, Islamic, popular and traditional art forms, media and content. Contemporary art is never fixed, but
open to many possibilities.
Contemporary Arts in the Philippine Regions