EXPLORATION OF ART

Study of art

Contemporary art encompasses many different art forms, from traditional media such as paintings and drawings to more recently developed approaches that use digital and time-based media to create works that incorporate both sound and image.

And it doesn't stop there - more adventurous buyers might want to consider purchasing a piece of performance art that can be 'experienced' rather than merely seen...

Paintings -

The first paintings were discovered in South West France in the Lascaux caves from the Upper Paleolithic Age, around 40,000 to 10,000 years ago, which shows that painting is one of the oldest art forms that exists.

Technically, a painting is a two-dimensional art form which is made up of layers of pigments applied onto a surface. The surface on which the pigment is applied varies from stone (used in the Paleolithic Age) to paper, wood, cloth and canvas.

As the surface of paintings differ, so do the materials used to create the pigments. During the Paleolithic Age coloured earths were used, followed by plant extracts and more recently synthetic colours. There are many types of paintings, but amongst the well-known are oil, acrylic, pastel, spray paintings and watercolours.

Prints -

A print is a two-dimensional art form created by an impression made by a method involving a transfer from one surface to another.

All type of prints come in multiples (except monotypes) to form an edition. Since the late 19th century, artists tend to identify each print with a number and signature. It is common practice for the maker to produce a limited edition of the image, which means there is a fixed quantity. The tools used to create the print are often destroyed once the edition has been completed.

The earliest example of a printmaking technique is ‘Woodcut’, which is a type of relief print developed in the Far East. Relief prints are made up of recessed areas, so that the raised parts remaining can be inked and used to create an impression. This type of print is created using wood, linocut and metalcut.

Nowadays, along with relief prints a range of techniques are used to create different type of prints.

The below techniques include the intaglio technique where areas in the plate are incised or chemically etched to hold the ink.

Engraving: A hardened steel tool called a burin is used to cut lines into the surface of a metal plate.The appearance of the incisions depends on the angle and pressure applied when using the burin. When the ink is applied over the metal plate it is retained in the incisions and the paper picks it up in the press to create the impression.

Etching: Like engraving, the indentations hold the ink, but these are created in a different manner. Lines are cut onto a waxy surface which covers the metal plate. The plate is placed in an acid bath, which “bites” into the metal left exposed and thus traces are formed. The plate is then ready for ink to be applied and follows the subsequent steps in engraving.

Mezzotint: This type of print is a form of engraving where the whole plate of metal is roughened and then scraped and polished to different degrees, so that the ink also holds in varies quantities. With this type of print a good range of tone is achieved.

Aquatint: This intaglio method is similar to etching as acid is used to make marks in the plate. However, a powdered resin is applied in parts making them acid resistant. Removing a protective coat leaves textured areas and a number of acid baths are made until the darkest tones are reached.

Drypoint: This print-type is a variant of engraving which employs the intaglio method. However, with drypoint a sharp metal point is used which creates ridges (known as "burr") in the lines made. This technique allows for the ink to leave a soft, sometimes blurry line

.Other print techniques include:

Lithography: This type of print is based on the chemical repulsion of oil and water. Grease-based utensils are used to draw an image on limestone, aluminium or onto a zinc plate. The plate is washed with a solution that creates water-receptive, non- printing areas and grease-reception areas that draws in the ink. The paper when pressed against the other surface can capture fine graduations in shading as well as very small detail.

Screenprint :This is a very popular print type as the finest detail can be captured as well as bold colour. To create the screen a stencil of an image is either attached to or created on a piece of fabric which is stretched over a frame. The screen is placed on top of paper, glass or any other suitable surface and then ink or paint is forced through the fabric onto the surface with a rubber blade. Colours and other images can be added using separate screens to build up a
- complete image onto the surface. Modern technology means that the finest detail can also be transposed by using screens that capture an artist’s image through UV sensitive emulsions and transparent films.
- Monotype: Unlike all other print types monotypes tend to be one-off prints which are created by drawing or painting onto a smooth plate and then transferring the image onto paper.

Monoprint:This type of print is created by using a plate which has permanent lines or textures which can be reused. Aside from the prints created as part of an edition, it is normal for artists to have a copy of the print as an Artists Proof (AP). If the AP is inscribed with a message or dedicated by the artist they can be very collectable and as such more expensive than a print from the edition.
Drawings - As with paintings, drawings are one of the oldest art forms around and can be traced back to prehistoric times. Before the advent of paper in the 14th century, drawings were made on parchment and silver was also used to make under-drawings.
Drawing was and still is a popular method for artists to create preparatory studies. Examples of preparatory work are often a good way to see the artist’s initial observations and ideas before they commit to the final markings in their work.
A drawing is defined as a two-dimensional medium where an image is depicted on a flat surface by making lines and areas of tone through shading. Line and shading are created most commonly by using ink, pencil, crayon, pastels, charcoal and chalk. Watercolour pencils can also be used to create a more painterly effect in a drawing.
Metal-point drawing is a more unusual method which involves a stylus with a point made of gold, silver, cooper or lead pressed on a paper/parchment surface, which has been coated with a paste of crushed eggshell or bone. When drawing across the surface with the stylus tiny particles are left and these naturally tarnish, turning the indentations in the paper into darker lines.
Photography - A photograph is an image created by the exposure of light on a light-sensitive material at some stage during its making. It can be either a positive or negative image and made using one of many processes.
As with prints, photographic prints are often produced in a limited edition and each photographic print is signed and numbered.
- Digital: This type print is computer-generated using a photographic image which is converted into a digital file. The file is then manipulated in programmes such as desktop publishing and in its final stage printed using a laser inkjet printer. Inkjet is a popular method and most commonly used to produce giclée prints. Lambda prints (also known as Light Jet) are also classed as a form of digital print. The digital image is printed onto silver photographic materials using lasers, which produces a very high quality of photographic print. Lambda prints are known for their sharpness, continuous tone and high impact colours.
Crafts - The art of craft-making can be defined as an occupation or trade which involves manual dexterity and skilled artistry. A significant advent for the crafts was the ‘Arts and Crafts Movement’ which flourished in the late 19th and early 20th century. The focus was on good design and craftsmanship at a time when there was increased mechanisation and mass production.
The terms 'applied arts' and 'decorative arts' are used when referring to craft. Applied arts is concerned with the application of design, aesthetics and objects of everyday use. Decorative arts have the same purpose as applied arts (but does not include design). A list of some of the techniques is included below.
- Ceramics: The first example of ceramics dates back to 24,000 BC, when clay was used to make animal and human figurines which were fired in kilns. Over the years the technique has developed as ceramics are now, more commonly, glazed and fired to create a coloured and smoother surface. Ceramics take on many forms which include Earthenware. This is a popular material used for pottery and decorative objects. Stoneware is form of a semi-vitreous, fine textured ceramic made primarily from non-refractory fired clay. One of the most well known types of ceramics is porcelain. Porcelain is known for its strength and translucency and although it contains clay, kaolin is a key ingredient.
- Glassware: The history of creating glass can be traced back to 3500 BCE. Glass is an amorphous and solid material which is made up of silica, alkali and metal oxides. Glass is often shaped and decorated before it hardens. However, once it is cooled it can be embellished by cutting, etching or engraving the glass. The 19th century saw glass becoming a significant form of decorative arts. As well as using glass on a more functional basis, glass is also used to produce glass art through glass blowing, kiln casting, fusing, pate-de-verre, flame-working, hot-sculpting and cold-working.
Woodwork: This type of craft involves sculpting or carving wood. Along with stone and mud wood was one of the first materials worked on by human beings. Egyptians and the Chinese are two ancient civilizations that used woodworking a
- great deal. Woodturning is a popular form of woodworking that is used to create wooden objects on a lathe. During this process the wood moves whilst a stationary tool is used to cut and shape the wood.
- Textiles: As early as the Stone Age, the first signs of textiles can be seen by manipulating plant and animal fibres. Techniques have naturally evolved since then, especially in the 19th century where synthetic fibres were introduced. Textiles are often made up of thread/yarn which can be woven, knitted or crocheted. Felt is also a popular material used, which is pressed to create the item. At the time of the ‘Arts and Crafts Movement’ textiles were reintroduced as ‘objets d’art’ in their own right. Popular types of textile-made items include tapestries, rugs, scarves, brooches, figures and hats.
- Metalwork: The first examples of metalwork as a decorative art can be traced to the Celts around 500-50 BCE where personal weaponry and items of jewellery were created. Metalwork in terms of craft is used to create assemblages, sculpture and jewellery.
- Jewellery: The first signs of jewellery came from Africa around 75,000 years ago. Jewellery at this time was made up of perforated beads from snail shells. As with other craft techniques things have advanced as precious metal, gemstones, plastic and glass are now popular materials for jewellery.
- Furniture: Evidence of furniture dates back to the Neolthic Period. Furniture, as with craft in general, is multifaceted as it can be functional, symbolic and decorative. Furniture can be made from many materials, including metal, plastic and wood.
Design - Part of applied arts, design comes in many forms, from graphic, fashion, interior, functional to the industrial. Design, in the context of displays in galleries, can be found in objects such as furniture and lighting, but also in the photographic and limited edition prints where graphic design has been used.
Perfomance art - Peformance Art is where the artwork takes the form of actions performed by the artist/s or approved performers briefed by the artist.
In Europe, the German artist Joseph Beuys was a hugely influential pioneer of Performance art, making a wide impact with his 'actions' from 1963 onwards. At around the same time in the UK, it was the artist duo Gilbert & George taking the scene by storm.
Can Performance art be collected? By its nature, Performance is an ephemeral medium. Some will say that Performance art only exists in the moment that it is performed - if this is the case, can the actual performance be collected in any way?
For some, collecting Performance is about retaining the memory of it in the mind and any documentation is not considered as ‘the work’.
Others will collect Performance by obtaining a record of it, which may be editioned. This could be visual, such as a photograph or film; a graphic depiction like a drawing or as a text . These forms of documentation are often the primary means by which Performance reaches a wider public and is ‘collected’. Accessing preparatory work (for any artform) could be another way in which to delve into the piece or learn more about the artists intentions.
One interesting example of collecting Performance is the purchase of Tino Sehgal’s Kiss (2003) by Museum of Modern Art (MOMA), New York in 2008. No papers were signed, no artwork was delivered. Instead, a purchase contract was orally concluded in the presence of a notary.
Mixed media - Mixed-media tends to refer to artworks that use a combination of materials in their construction. For example, a work on canvas that combines paint and ink as well as collage.
The use of mixed media can be seen to be rooted in the Cubist Collages and constructions of Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque. The choosing and application of various materials with mixed media works is essential in creating quality and integrity in the piece.
Artists working in mixed media are afforded a great deal of creative freedom. For example, found objects can be used in conjunction with more conventional media, such as paint and graphite, challenging our preconceptions about the materials which can be used in the making of works of art.
Sculptures - As with painting, the earliest example of sculpture dates back to the Upper Paleolithic period (40,000 to 10,000 years ago). During this period stone and ivory were used to create small female figures. It wasn’t until the Greeks used bronze casting that life size figures were represented in sculpture.
Technically, sculptures are for the most part three-dimensional artworks created by shaping and moulding materials – typically marble, metal, glass, wood and bronze. A two-dimensional form of sculpture exists, where the object is not fully detached from its background, which is described as relief carving. Often relief craving is used to depict a scene with many figures interacting on a detailed landscape. Sculpture is often painted, but commonly loses its paint over time.
The four well-know techniques to make sculpture are:
- Craving using stone, wood, ivory or bone.
- Modeling in clay or wax.
- Casting is a very popular method, where liquid in the form of bronze is poured into a cast and hardened. The lost wax process is a technique used to produce casts where a clay and plaster mould take on wax which is melted through a vent and molten metal is poured in to replace it. Sand casting is another simpler technique that uses moulds made out of compacted fine sand.
- Assemblage sculpture is a technique that involves the collation of several different, often found materials and objects within one work.
Installation - The term installation was coined in the 1970s to describe artwork that of any form or size that inhibits a space inside or outside a gallery, which is often site-specific.
Installations are typically three-dimensional and can be made up by a variety of material and medium. They can be indefinite or temporary and viewers can find themselves walking around a piece, contemplating it from a distance or immersing themselves in the space of the work itself.
Art Movements - An art movement is a tendency or style in art with a specific common philosophy or goal, followed by a group of artists during a restricted period of time, (usually a few months, years or decades) or, at least, with the heyday of the movement defined within a number of years. Art movements were especially important in modern art, when each consecutive movement was considered as a new avant-garde.

Art Deco or Deco, is an influential visual arts design style which first appeared in France during the 1920s, flourished internationally during the 30s and 40s, then waned in the post-World War II era.^[1] It is an eclectic style that combines traditional craft motifs with Machine Age imagery and materials. The style is often characterized by rich colors, bold geometric shapes and lavish ornamentation.
Art Nouveau (French pronunciation: [aʁ nu'vo], Anglicised to /ˈ ɑː r t n uː ˈ v oʊ /) is an international philosophy and style of art, architecture and applied art—especially the decorative arts—that were most popular during 1890–1910. The name "Art Nouveau" is French for "new art". It is known also as Modernisme in Catalonia, with its most notable contributions by the architect Antoni Gaudí. A reaction to academic art of the 19th century, it was inspired by natural forms and structures, not only in flowers and plants but also in curved lines. Architects tried to harmonize with the natural environment. It is also considered a philosophy of design of furniture, which was designed according to the whole building and made part of ordinary life.
The term is broadly used in association with a wide variety of art produced in Paris (Montmartre, Montparnasse) and Puteaux during the 1910s and extending through the 1920s. Variants such as Futurism and Constructivism developed in other countries. n Cubist artwork, objects are analyzed, broken up and reassembled in an abstracted form—instead of depicting objects from one viewpoint, the artist depicts the subject from a multitude of viewpoints to represent the subject in a greater context.

Expressionism was a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Germany at the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it radically for emotional effect in order to evoke moods or ideas.^[1]^[2] Expressionist artists sought to express meaning^[3] or emotional experience rather than physical reality.

Romanticism (or the Romantic era/Period) was an artistic, literary, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe toward the end of the 18th century and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate period from 1800 to 1840. Partly a reaction to the Industrial Revolution,^[1] it was also a revolt against aristocratic social and political norms of the Age of Enlightenment and a reaction against the scientific rationalization of nature.^[2] It was embodied most strongly in the visual arts, music, and literature, but had a major impact on historiography,^[3] education^[4] and the natural sciences.   .

Impressionism is a 19th-century art movement that originated with a group of Paris-based artists. Their independent exhibitions brought them to prominence during the 1870s and 1880s, in spite of harsh opposition from the conventional art community in France. Impressionist painting characteristics include relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage of time), common, ordinary subject matter, inclusion of movement as a crucial element of human perception and experience, and unusual visual angles.
Classicism, in the arts, refers generally to a high regard for classical antiquity, as setting standards for taste which the classicists seek to emulate. The art of classicism typically seeks to be formal and restrained. Classicism, a term that, when applied generally, means clearness, elegance, symmetry, and repose produced by attention to traditional forms. It is sometimes synonymous with excellence or artistic quality of high distinction. More precisely, the term refers to the admiration and imitation of Greek and Roman literature, art, and architecture. Because the principles of classicism were derived from the rules and practices of the ancients, the term came to mean the adherence to specific academic canons.
Modernism, in its broadest definition, is modern thought, character, or practice. More specifically, the term describes the modernist movement in the arts, its set of cultural tendencies and associated cultural movements, originally arising from wide-scale and far-reaching changes to Western society in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Modernism encompasses the activities and output of those who felt the "traditional" forms of art, architecture, literature, religious faith, social organization and daily life were becoming outdated in the new economic, social, and political conditions of an emerging fully industrialized world.

Symbolism was a late nineteenth-century art movement of French, Russian and Belgian origin in poetry and other arts. Symbolism was largely a reaction against naturalism and realism, anti-idealistic styles which were attempts to represent reality in its gritty particularity, and to elevate the humble and the ordinary over the ideal. Symbolism was a reaction in favour of spirituality, the imagination, and dreams.

Bauhaus - The Bauhaus was an institution, and a school of taught of arts and design which generate an idea of reform on arts and craft and architecture movement in Germany in the early of the 20th Century. The basic idea of the Bauhaus teaching concept was the unity of artistic and practical tuition. As one of the early of the modern movement proponent, Bauhaus was confronted with a variety of ‘ism’, from Expressionism, Cubism, Rationalism even with the Germany’s Neue Sachlichkeit, which colored their concepts development of arts and craft and architecture. This research is intended to know the principles and The Bauhaus’s ideology, concepts and method in Architecture. The Bauhaus was a melting pot in to which many of the ‘ism’, artistic and architectural production merged. With the melting pot, Bauhaus succeeded in superimposed all ‘ism’, artistic and architectural production, as a conception of design or the education, with which, state the universally principles that co-exist with the spirit of the age (zeitgeist). The Bauhaus ideology can be considered as a dynamic, become a melting pot from the all ‘ism’ in the Bauhaus.

ART TO ARCHITECTURE
It was once thought that architecture, sculpture, and painting belonged together. Indeed, they were admirably intertwined at various points in history—in the ancient cultures of East and West, and in the European Gothic, Renaissance, and Baroque periods. With the rise of the merchant class to power in the 19th century, the plastic arts began to lose their interdependency and to separate. Part of this was due to the general fragmentation of society into competing social units. Part was the fragmentation of knowledge into various specialized fields, of which architecture, sculpture, and painting were, in the arts, prime examples. And no small part was economic. Buildings became real estate that often trades hands for money, as are paintings and sculptures. Today, it is rare to find these three arts united in any but the most tentative way.
Ironically, perhaps, their separation enabled them to influence each other in ways they never did before. It was not until the beginning of the 20th century that we find examples of paintings and sculptures having a direct influence on architectural design. It is as though their independence from each other gave them an intellectual and artistic parity, and allowed architects and painters (later, photographers, filmmakers, and video artists) to learn from each other’s works. Before this separation, it is impossible to think of an architect who adopted in his (they were all male, back then) work, methods or forms from a painter. After the separation of the arts, this influence began to appear, and is sure to increase in the future.

The traditional boundaries between art and architecture are increasingly blurred in work that has been variously described as site-specific art, public art and urban intervention. In art, such work has been variously described as contextual practice, site-specific art, public art, and in architecture, as conceptual design and urban intervention. Art and Architecture draws on concepts from disciplines such as feminism, critical theory and cultural geography to explore the relationships between art, architecture, place, space and site. In the last ten years or so a number of academic disciplines have come together in debates concerning ‘the city’.

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