Contemporary Art: Insight into Modern Creativity

Contemporary essay: Contemporary art can provide a valuable yet unsettling critique of society. Contemporary art is the art that is created today. Contemporary artists are working in a culturally diverse and technologically evolving world. Their art consists of challenging the boundaries of traditional art by using different approaches to their artmaking, different materials and methods, and different concepts. Masses of contemporary art is used to critique society. However, by doing so, certain ideas within the criticism can often raise concerns for the audience. 

Contemporary artists commonly choose to focus of the cultural frame, exploring current affairs and social interests. Banksy and Ai Weiwei mutually incorporate modern subjects into their work to express their ideas regarding today’s society. Banksy is an anonymous street artist based in England. He is well known for the controversial concepts displayed in his artmaking. He focuses on subjects involving capitalism, hypocrisy and social and political issues. Banksy began as a freehand graffiti artist and used stencils to assist in speeding up his artmaking process. Later in his career, Banksy combined his graffiti art with installation and performance art. Banksy has created many significant artworks within his career including; ‘Kissing Coppers’, ‘Napalm Girl’ and ‘One Nation Under CCTV’. Each of these artworks express his ideas on current social matters. 

Banksy’s artwork, ‘Kissing Coppers’, was created in 2004. This is a spray-painted artwork depicting two male policemen in their typical British uniforms, kissing in a lovingly manner. The artwork was originally located on the side of a local pub near the city, Brighton. This piece can be interpreted in numerous ways. From one point of view, the artwork may be interpreted as a response to the acceptance of homosexuality and the expression of sexual identity. A percentage of individuals would find this artwork disturbing to view. Banksy makes the audience question themselves and their reasoning to disliking this piece. Is it because it is two people of the same sex or is it due to the public display of affection? Although it seems clear that this piece is representing gay rights, his use of policemen rather than ordinary people creates encourages the audience to think about his artwork in more depth. The title of the artwork also does not signify sexual identity, indicating that there is an underlying message within the artwork. This piece represents authority in a different perspective. Policemen are usually portrayed as masculine and serious people. This piece displays to the audience that people of authority too have lives of their own. Banksy acts against his beliefs to convey authority in a more realistic light. Ignoring the affection in the artwork, it could also be perceived as expressing how much policemen rely on one another. They faithfully put their trust into one another with their lives at stake. Banksy incorporates controversy into this artwork to obtain a reaction from the audience. 

Banksy’s ‘Napalm Girl’, made in 2004/2005, is an appropriation of an iconic photograph which was captured in Vietnam in 1972. The photograph originally displayed the mayhem of the Vietnam War. It focused on a young girl surrounded by other children and soldiers, assumed to be fleeing their village. Banksy has used only the portion of the image that concentrates on the girl and placed her between Mickey Mouse and Ronald McDonald. These two characters are typically considered to be smiling and child friendly. Banksy has juxtaposed this with the photograph of the Napalm girl. The fear being expressed on the girl’s face is also contrasted with the bright and smiling faces on the two characters. Both Mickey Mouse and Ronald McDonald are familiar faces of American capitalism. This is ironic as the Unites States in the same country that released Napalm on Vietnam. Therefore, Banksy is critiquing capitalism. As Banksy stated, 'The greatest crimes in the world are not committed by people breaking the rules but by people following the rules. It's people who follow orders that drop bombs and massacre villages.' His artwork is a representation of both; the fun and cheerfulness of the American culture, and the reality that America can also be dark and devious. Banksy uses Napalm Girl to communicate powerful meaning to his audience. 

‘One Nation Under CCTV’, 2007, is another example of Banksy’s street art. This work was painted on a building wall in London. On the bottom right side of the painting, a person is dressed in a hooded jumper, dark shorts and a backpack, being watched by a police officer and dog on the opposite side, painting the words, ‘ONE NATION UNDER CCTV’, onto the building wall. Banksy purposely created this artwork on this wall as it has its own CCTV camera examining the area. The artwork is aimed to criticise the extreme surveillance that had become a large social issue in England and internationally. The work was eventually painted over but this is not the only time that Banksy has mocked CCTV. 

He has also created a similar artwork titled ‘What are you looking at? CCTV’. Correspondingly, this work displays the words - ‘what are you looking at?’, on a blank wall that is under surveillance. Banksy utilises his art to respond to current topics of interest. Ai Weiwei is a Chinese contemporary artist and activist who, similarly, uses his art to convey his ideas about political issues. Ai Weiwei is deemed as being the most famous Chinese artist of today. He is known for being outspoken and his art is not always appreciated by the public, due to the provocative nature of his creations. 

Initially, Weiwei used paint as his main medium. However, he soon turned to sculptures and installation art. Within the artworks – ‘Soleil Levant’, ‘Surveillance Camera’ and ‘Straight’, Weiwei purposely explores subject matters that are controversial to the Chinese government. Ai Weiwei’s installation artwork, ‘Soleil Levant’, was created in 2017. The installation blockades the windows of Kunsthal Charlottenborg, an art exhibition gallery, using over three thousand and five hundred life jackets. These life jackets have been collected from refugees arriving at Lesbos (a Greek Island). Weiwei’s purpose of this artwork is to raise awareness for refugees and the existing humanitarian crisis taking place across Europe. Ai Weiwei significantly planned his artwork’s official opening on June 20th, which is the United Nations World Refugee Day, another indication that the artworks prime purpose is to bring attention to refugees. Ai Weiwei’s marble sculpture, ‘Surveillance Camera’, was sculpted in 2010. Like Banksy, Weiwei created artworks ridiculing surveillance cameras. On the contrary, this was not just any CCTV camera, this one had been installed into Weiwei’s own home and studio by the police. 'In China, I am constantly under surveillance. Even my slightest, most innocuous move can - and often is - censored by Chinese authorities”, these cameras track the artist everywhere he goes, contrasted with this, Weiwei locates and tracks each camera monitoring his property. A marble sculpture, literally and symbolically set in stone, symbolises and reminds the audience of this characteristic in the artist’s life. When observed, the sculpture can resemble a head and shoulder-like figure. This reminds the audience of the incongruity and absurdity of his situation. In addition, two years later, Weiwei set up his own ‘Weiwei Cam’. This camera would mimic the intrusion of the Chinese authority by broadcasting live and inviting Weiwei’s viewers to examine him as he minds his own business and continues with his life. Weiwei uses his artworks as testimony that the Chinese government is responsible for the intrusion of his personal life into the lives of citizens. 

‘Straight’, 2008-2012, is a visual representation of an earthquake and its effects. ‘Straight’ is a response to a specific occurrence of authorial corruption. This artwork addresses the earthquake of 2008 which hit the Sichuan area and left an immense number of casualties. Weiwei was astonished to discover that these deaths could have been avoided. ‘Straight’ is another testimony held against the government to claim them liable for this incidence and aim to prevent another disaster in the future. It was created using bent and broken steel bars collected from poorly built schools, he hired metal workers to mend the bars until they looked the way they did before the earthquake. He used an earthquake seismograph to arrange the bars in ways that resemble an earthquake. Each of the thousands of bars symbolise a life lost in the earthquake. The government responded in displease to this artwork as they did not like the attention that was drawn to this national humiliation. Weiwei was famous for criticising the Chinese authorities through his artmaking. 

To conclude what is contemporary art essay, Banksy and Ai Weiwei have used contemporary art to criticise the relevant issues of today’s society. Both artists convey their ideas throughout different ways but are effective in doing so, whether it be through street art or installation art. Their audience also plays a role in their art, responding positively and negatively creating public controversy. Both artists have successfully provided a valuable yet unsettling critique of society.