Entertainment

Sunday, 12 January, 2014 - 20:41

What is ART?

by GraceE

Many people used to consider art to be paintings of fields with flowers, portraits of old-fashioned men in top hats, or pictures of bowls of fruit. However, art has changed drastically in the last century. Now, we accept everything as art. Computer game art, graffiti and video projections are accepted as types of art forms. Famous London art galleries like Tate Modern or Tate Britain often exhibit these contemporary categories of art. Let's discover some famous contemporary artists:

Have you heard of Banksy?
Banksy is a famous British graffiti artist from Bristol. He creates all his art in secret - in fact, no one knows his real name! Often, his paintings have a sense of humour behind them and he usually paints about controversial issues. You can see his art on walls, in zoos, on the street.

Have you heard of Hirst?
Damien Hirst is also from Great Britain. He is the richest artist in the country. He became famous after attending Goldsmiths University in London, and was very popular in the 1990s. He has used a lot of dead animals in his work, including dead sharks, sheep and cows. He is popular for his diamond-covered skull, which was shown in an art gallery for a limited amount of time.

Have you heard of Duchamp?
Marcel Duchamp was a French-American painter and sculptor. He is considered to be one of the most important artists of the 20th century as he has influenced many artists. He changed what was the 'normal' idea in the art world. Perhaps his most popular piece of work is simply a men's urinal that he decided to label as art. He did nothing to it. He didn't paint it, he didn't make it, he didn't alter it. He saw it and decided to call it 'Fountain'.

Have you heard of Eggleston?
William Eggleston is an American photographer who made modern colour photography acceptable as an art form. Before him, black and white photography was more popular. Eggleston's photographs are very 'American'. They contain lots of images of 'Coca-Cola, No Parking signs and palm trees'.

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