What is Contemporary Art?

Contemporary Art and Contemporaneity by Terry Smith is a discussion of what "contemporary" really means? She throws around different terms to categorize what contemporary means in reference to the term modern. Smith goes as far as to say that contemporary art is but a compound of modernism; both stem from the same "recursive character." This idea that both words (genre's of art) come from the each other, means one will always decide that the other is to be questioned.

Smith goes to say, "that which emerges from within the conditions of contemporaneity, including the remnants of the cultures of modernity and post modernity; but which projects itself through and around these, as an art of that which actually is in the world, of what it is to be in the world, and of that which is to come." I understood that to mean that the contemporary artists is a re-inventor of a sort pulling specific ideas from modernity and creating something that is part of the world now but still includes hints of something that once was. It is an extension of modernity a revision of it, thus it is called "contemporary."

I was looking up definitions and I thought it went along well with how Terry Smith described contemporaneity, for the simple fact that modern is thought to be a synonym; interesting that even the dictionary knows that these two words come from each other. 

Later in the article Smith says that the role of a critic is to keep advancing and interpret art "of current, recent, and past art in order to keep it in contemporary play." If you think about the role of the critic, they are trained to look at works of art and understand the style, the purpose, the process and make a relevant understanding by today's standards, not only historical standards.

 The idea of "nowness" also comes into play, but what is now? "There are three times: a present of things past, a present of things present; and a present of future things," a formulation made by St. Augustine. I see this as a way of understanding the now, we can either see things from our point of view from the present-of the past-and of the future, there is no understanding "now" from any other point of view then the present, for we can not understand our past self as we do our present. Smith talks about this idea of the contemporaneity as this immediacy, prioritizing THIS moment in time, THIS instant of life. From my understanding contemporary artists understand the meaning of modern art and the history that goes with it, but to be a creator of the present means to embark on how one feels in the present, because there is no other way to feel except for what your feeling now (although you remember how you felt at one point, it can never be translated into the present as effectively as it would if it were your present).

I am thinking of one artist that revolves around the present, her state of mind, her feelings about life RIGHT now, it is moving because it is in the present, it isn't something that has already happened-it is ongoing. This is Lisa Lindvay.