One of the requirements of the OCA curriculum is to study contemporary artists, but I’m having difficulties with this. I can only seldom relate in a positive way to artwork typically presented nowadays in galleries or museums of modern art. I tend to find it too conceptual, with an emphasis on the attempt of being as original as possible. I can’t get much pleasure from this. I try to be open-minded to recent developments, but feel that I will reserve the freedom of not investing too much time in artwork that doesn’t appeal to my senses nor my emotions.
While working on assignment 1, I thought it might nevertheless be good to keep an eye on my relationship to modern art. The fact that I had not liked most of what I saw so far might simply be bad luck because I have not deliberately sought out what might be interesting for me. I began the search with reading the Wikipedia article on Contemporary art, which contains a helpful definition: In its wider sense, it is understood as art that has been created after World War II. In a more narrow understanding, the time frame is closer to today. I think for now I will go with the wider definition. The article also contains a nice overview of art movements by decade.
Wikipedia: Contemporary art, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contemporary_art