WEEK 2 – Versus

In the second week we covered the topic of contemporary versus traditional art, specifically, on what our thoughts on what style we preferred or understood more.  After having visited Gertrude Contemporary in the first week, I discovered that certain aspects of the thought process and conceptualisation of modern art was extremely fascinating – modern artists develop their bizarre works around extremely imaginative yet meaningful ideas.

Perhaps what separates the two different forms is how they are respectively interpreted by the public.   For example, at Gertrude Contemporary I saw various examples of video art, and the message was extremely difficult to decipher given the complexity and abstract nature of contemporary art.   The wall installation that was completely made out of pulverised DVDs, despite being relatively straightforward, took some background information and explaining to fully appreciate; without it, it wouldn’t have elicited any major response from me.

The trick with traditional art is that it is in most cases, grand and far easier to appreciate by the general public.   Grand paintings like Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel are stunning and popular due to their sheer size and scale.  The intricacy can be physically seen, as opposed to being hidden under layers and layers of planning and thinking.

Nonetheless, art itself is an ever changing topic – and contemporary art aims to enrich and inform the aspects of today’s society with different mediums.