This blog follows the activities of Dr. Slipp’s Fall 2016 course, Art Since 1945, at Auburn University at Montgomery. Here we engage with current artists, critics, and theorists, alongside trends in exhibitions and the market. Throughout the semester, students will post short critical writing, respond to readings, and invoke contemporary art in the news. You can find descriptions of each of their four writing prompts in the header tabs, and their posts under “course blog.”
Students engage in a public dialogue through the use of this platform – expressing themselves and their views on the Contemporary art world via their own online forum.
Along with lectures, discussions, and screenings, Dr. Slipp’s class does a number of in-class exercises throughout the semester that expand upon particular themes or artistic movements. We use this blog as a way to share some of those class activities: check out the “class activities” tab above!
VISU 3060 WI/VISU 6060: Art Since 1945
Course Description: This writing intensive course explores major currents in European and American post-war art from 1945 to today, alongside contemporary culture, politics, and art criticism. We examine the ways artists have responded to an increasingly globalized world, where the production and reception of art has been affected by an expanding marketplace, proliferating exhibition venues, and global artistic practices.
In class, we discuss movements ranging from Abstract Expressionism, Pop art, and Minimalism, to Conceptual art, Earthworks, body art, performance and video works. Students explore how artists engage with identity politics, environment, and medium, evaluate the effect of the marketplace on artistic practice, and consider the ways artists negotiate the local and global, while participating in large-scale, global art exhibitions, such as Biennales and international art fairs.
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Header Image: Chris Burden, Urban Light, 2008. Sculpture: 202 restored cast iron antique street lamps, 320 1/2 x 686 1/2 x 704 1/2 in., The Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA.
Images (left to right): Gerhard Richter, Abstraktes Bild 780-4, 1992. Detail. Oil on canvas, 102 1/2 x 78 3/4 in., private collection (sold at Sotheby’s 11/09/10).
Sarah Sze, Tilting Planet (short tower), 2006/2009. Mixed media, dimensions variable, c. 120 x 156 x 96 in., Installation view: Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead, UK, 2009. Courtesy Tanya Bonakdar Gallery.
Do Ho Suh, Home Within Home Within Home Within Home Within Home, 2013. Mixed media, 472 1/2 x 590 1/2 in., Installation view: National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul, Korea.
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