Contemporary Lithuanian fine art is the art based on certain principles of thinking, new approach to meanings and functions of creation. The progress of art is induced by talented artists and looking at the contemporary Lithuanian fine art one can see how often for artists it is important not only to express themselves in artistic creation, but also be the bellmen of the society and talk about important subjects. The historic myths are the part of the old world, which is present in our culture: literature and fine art. Art of the old myths is the memory of the cultures, verbal expression and tradition. The theme of myths in art pieces helps the artist to talk about the problems within his interests as free and individual interpretation of the myths is the peculiarity of contemporary art. According to the artists the good art is such art, which keeps up with the times and manages to exercise the effect on the spectator and convince him/her. That is why a good artist uses the myths as a tool in his/her creation and via such old myths he/she manages to talk about the topical issues of today. As the myths have their own polysemous meaning, they do not need rationalistic interpretation. It is interesting and most of all – suggestive. The symbols of myths help the artists to express their ideas in a more purposeful way and they assist the spectators in better understanding of the piece of art, which already acquires literary connotation. The content of the art creations... [to full text]

This Thesis is concerned with how history is narrated in two selected works by the British artists, Tacita Dean and Jeremy Deller. Chapter one considers Deller's The Battle of Orgreave (2001), a reenactment of a violent miners' strike against Margaret Thatcher's government in 1984-1985. The reenactment brought together reenactment hobbyist and ex-miners to perform the events at Orgreave and created a discourse around the imagined historical role of the working classes. Chapter two examines Dean's book Teignmouth Electron (1999), which recounts the failed voyage of Donald Crowhurst, one of the contestants of the 1967 Golden Globe Race who committed suicide after developing 'time-madness' at sea. She offers the history of this individual as a point of entry into middle-class aspirations in England in the 1960s. Produced at the turn of the 21st century when Britain's New Labour government was instigating an image of a New Britain to match its bygone glory, both works look back to moments in the past that epitomize the decline of the country's old order. Unearthing instances of failure and defeat, each artist offers an alternative glance at Britain's past and present condition than the one promoted by New Labour.

This thesis argues that the environmental undertones of artists Edward Burtynsky’s and Olafur Eliasson’s work have clearly aligned them; however, the focus of my study is not an evaluation of the artists’ abilities to express environmental concerns, but rather an exploration of the effects of their representations on our understanding of the surrounding environment, and of the artists’ contributions toward a definition of Nature that now includes its own demise as a site of aesthetic pleasure. This study focuses on Olafur Eliasson’s New York City Waterfalls and on Edward Burtynsky’s Nickel Tailings photographs. Burtynsky’s Nickel Tailings photographs, among them in particular, his well known Nickel Tailings No. 34, depict a barren grey and black landscape centered primarily around an intensely coloured red and orange river of molten metal. Eliasson’s recent New York City Waterfalls consists of four artist-constructed waterfalls, ranging from 90 to 120 feet tall, located within the waters of Lower Manhattan, Governs Island, and beneath the Brooklyn Bridge. In his monumental New York City Waterfalls, Eliasson has made an intervention into the landscape that effectively works to contaminate the established aesthetic upon which it is based. In his monumental photographs, in contrast, Burtynsky does the opposite; he aestheticizes the contaminated. Here I would add that both artists have carefully called upon the elemental in order to reference the idea of wilderness or a “pure” form of Nature. Reference to the elemental in Nature—to air, water, and fire— has allowed these artists to challenge the viewer’s perception and experience of the nonhuman world. These manufactured landscapes are undeniably owned by humanity, yet is this the type of landscape we are comfortable to claim as our own? / Thesis (Master, Art History) -- Queen's University, 2011-12-03 14:03:08.43

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This master thesis contextualise, and discuss the contemporary art as a catalyst for change, and raises social issues through art production in the urban district Nima. Perspectives of "community", and "community of practice" affiliates with examples of placed based art, mainly mural paintings performed in the urban landscape of the community, in the stigmatised community Nima, an area in Ghana’s capital Accra. The study has identified an artistic climate that is emerging from within the community, where artists have created a system for various forms of arts education. The artistic climate is a process of social practice, and this study further discuss the interaction of people in the process of art production, which provides both local, and global perspectives of art. Issues of representation, especially who is in the position to represent others, and how others are in fact represented are discussed and analysed as well as the terminology of “African art”.

Increasingly, contemporary artists are invited to create artworks responding to and located in cultural heritage sites such as national parks, national monuments, historic landmarks, and historic buildings. This thesis examines the nature of contemporary art production, display, and encounter in cultural heritage sites. The research is directed by the question: What are the conditions of curating contemporary art in cultural heritage sites?   The analysis builds from the idea that the meeting ground of contemporary art and cultural heritage produces a curatorial zone, and explores the implications of the interplay between these two fields for curatorial labor in cultural heritage sites specifically. A set of conditions that are central to both curating and cultural heritage management forms the methodological starting point for a comparative analysis of ten contemporary art projects in cultural heritage sites, including one in-depth case study.   The comparative analysis reveals that this curatorial zone is characterized by conditions that arise from conceptual tensions between the fields of contemporary art and cultural heritage. Specifically, a set of conditions I have termed change, temporal, interpretive, site-specific, and instrumental conditions actively shape the act of curating contemporary art in cultural heritage sites.

Современное искусство, фотография, живопись. / Daugiausia dėmesio skirdama XX ir XXI amžiaus fotografijai ir tapybai, pasirinkau buvimo/nebuvimo temą. Mane domina vieneto buvimo santykis visuomenės kontekste. Ieškau skirtumų, panašumų, išraiškos bei priklausomumo priemonių tarp aukščiau pateiktų meno sričių. Fotografiją reprezentuoja Toddo Hido (Houses), Cindy Sherman (Untitled Film Still, History Portraits) ir Andrzejo Kramarzo (Things, Home – bendradarbiaujant su Weronika Łodzińska) pasirinkti kūriniai. Tapybos atveju nurodau į kūrinius: Franciso Bacono (Head I-IV, Study of Pope Innocent X by Velazquez, Three Studies a Portrait of Lucian Freud, Triptych Studies from the Human Body), Romano Opałkos (ОPALKA 1965/1-) ir Gerhardo Richtero (Mrs Wolleh with children, Nanni and Kitty, White). / Contemporary art, photography, painting.

In this project, contemporary theater and performance art is examined in four cities in ex-Yugoslavia. War has pervaded all of the sites in some way, interrupting a sense of normalcy, altering the city physically as well as ideologically. For that reason, interaction with urban space becomes a central element in performances—whether it serves to preserve the city’s identity amidst destruction, to cleanse the city from the shame of official exploits, to break from the insular legacy of nationalism that flooded the streets, or to gather the city together in a process of collective healing.

The purpose of this study was to to examine what teachers think about visual art and how the learning process in this subject does look like. To answer these issues, I made interviews with five teachers of visual art from different schools, and I examined several examples of pupils’ artworks. The stories of the teachers were analyzed in relation to governing documents and with assumptions from sociocultural theory, postmodernism and pedagogical - aesthetic research as theoretical point of view. By the qualitative interview method, the observations of the pupil’s artworks, and by the analysis of the interviews with the teachers, I have come to the conclusion that teachers think differently about art but they try to keep themselves in line with the national governing documents. Its affects aspects of disciplines, styles, techniques and medium that is exemplified by the pupil’s art works, and it points out similarities and differences between the pupil’s art works and between the teachers when teaching visual art.

This paper looks at the concepts of the biomorphic and grotesque in art from the start of the 20th century to the present with a focus on painting and drawing. Included in the discussion of the grotesque throughout history are the works of Dadaist Otto Dix, painter Georg Baselitz, and feminist artists Judy Chicago, Hannah Wilke, and Ana Mendieta. Each used grotesque imagery to comment or react to a larger sociopolitical issue. Biomorphic artworks from the 20th century are mentioned as well, with specific examples of work by Lee Krasner, Willem DeKooning, and Hans Bellmer. These artists together start to illustrate the ways biomorphic and grotesque imagery can be used to explore physical gesture, inspire a visceral reaction in the viewer, and make societal critique. These themes are currently being explored by contemporary artists Jenny Saville, Wangechi Mutu, Inka Essenhigh, Cecliy Brown, Elizabeth Murray, and Maria Lassnig, each of whom is discussed in detail. Their work explores the boundary space between the body and hybridity, impurity, or abstraction, each in their own way. Following this discussion the author’s own paintings and drawings are mentioned, including dialogue detailing the thought process behind each one. Photographs of these works are included.