Elaine O'Brien

Art 112/212 :: Contemporary Art

Course Description

This course offers an overview of art produced from the late modern period (c.1940s-1960s) through the postmodern (c.1960s-1990s) to 21st century globalism.  We begin with American Abstract Expressionism and European Existential figuration that mark the end of the Age of Europe and the rise of American cultural hegemony following WWII.  We then move chronologically through the contemporary period from Pop and Minimal art in the 1960s to now. You will learn how the art of our time appropriates art traditions of every time and place, how it reinvents modernism (c. 1850-1950) for postmodern and now global contexts. Readings, assignments, lectures, and discussions are meant to shed light on the contexts and ideas behind the aesthetic (and anti-aesthetic) choices artists have made that continue to shape visual culture today.

Because contemporary art is a product of our information age, characterized by continual flux and every kind of border crossing, it is more challenging, exciting, and necessary to comprehend than any other art in history.  Indeed, contemporary art is not “history” at all.  Its time is now and its era is our own. Your education in contemporary art can help you imagine your own place in this story.
Note: This course requires a minimum of 6 hours per week of study outside of class (time for reading, writing papers, preparing projects, and for test preparation). Take the course only if you have that time in your schedule.

Prerequisites