Important Artistic Movements: Contemporary Wall Art

If you are getting involved with collecting artwork, you may have heard a great number of terms thrown around. There are different styles of art available either as sculpture or as canvas paintings. One of these styles or schools of art is contemporary wall art.

Contemporary wall art is very similar in many ways to modern art. In fact, there are often examples of artists who produced contemporary wall art that may also have been considered to be modern artists. The main dividing line between modern and contemporary wall art is the time period in which they were creating.

Modern artists are generally considered to be those that date from the late 19th century until the 1970’s. Artists producing contemporary wall art have been producing work since the 1970’s to the present day. There are a number of different famous artists producing contemporary wall art. These include Andy Warhol, Jasper Johns and H.R. Giger. Their art ranges from decorative to confrontational and many reflect a darker slant towards humanity and a starker world view.

Contemporary wall art is not limited to canvas paintings either. Many contemporary artists work with installations where a room or a portion of a room is transformed using three dimensional pieces in a variety of mediums. If you are interested in contemporary wall art, you may be more interested in canvas paintings or sculpture since these can be the easiest to accommodate in your room or office.

One of the benefits to contemporary wall art is that there is such a large range of it available that is priced affordably. Usually an artist’s work will appreciate dramatically in value after that artist has died, so many of the pieces created before the 1970’s may be too expensive for a beginning collector to afford. With contemporary wall art, whether they are canvas paintings or sculptures, you may be able to find a talented but undiscovered artist and begin collecting their work. Over time, if they are recognized, their art can appreciate in value.

If you are interested in contemporary art, or the work of any artist for that matter, it can really pay to educate yourself more fully about the style or artist you are interested in. The internet can be an excellent source of information. If you visit gallery websites and the websites of art dealers you can often find valuable tips and information on new and up and coming artists.

If you are looking at purchasing from an online site, you may want to consider purchasing canvas paintings. They can be shipped stretched (where the canvas has been stapled to a wooden framework to keep it taut and stable) or unstretched and rolled to keep it safe. A canvas painting can also be shipped already framed. You may want to work with a reputable framer to make sure that the style of the frame itself does not take away from the canvas paintings you have purchased.

Contemporary wall art is a very wide ranging movement that can offer pieces which appeal to a wide variety of collectors.