Contemporary art terms

Your guide to the dynamic world of artistic expression. From avant-garde to mixed media, explore the vibrant lexicon shaping today's art landscape.

Abject Art

Abject art explores themes that challenge and disrupt our notions of cleanliness and propriety, often involving the body and bodily functions.

Abstract Art

Art that uses shapes, colours, forms and gestures, rather than discernible figures, to create impact.

Abstract Expressionism

Abstract Expressionism was the dominant art movement in the 1940s and ‘50s, characterised by gestural brushwork and emphasising spontaneity.

Action Painting

Action painting is a style where paint is applied spontaneously by dripping, splashing, or smearing onto the canvas instead of meticulous application.

Activist Art

Activist art is a label applied to art that tackles political or social concerns.

Afrofuturism

Afrofuturism is a cultural style blending science fiction, history and fantasy to explore the African-American experience.

Airbrushing

Airbrushing is a technique that uses compressed air to apply paint as a smooth and uniform surface.

Algorithm

An Algorithm is a set of instructions used to solve problems, perform specific tasks or make decisions.

Analytical Cubism

Analytical Cubism refers to the initial stage of Cubism, around 1908-1912, characterised by its fragmented portrayal of people and objects.

Anti-Art

Anti-art rejects conventional definitions of art and raises questions about its nature.

Antiquities

Antiquities are objects from the ancient past, usually centred on western civilisations from about 4,500 BCE to the start of the Middle Ages.

Artist's Proof

An AP, or artist's proof, is a copy of an edition that is kept by the artist for their own personal use.

Aquatint

Aquatint is a printing process which creates artworks that resemble watercolour paintings by etching a copper plate with nitric acid and using resin and varnish to achieve tonal shading.

Art Brut

Art brut is a French term coined by artist Jean Dubuffet, denoting ‘raw art’ and encompasses creations like graffiti and naïve art.

Art Nouveau

Art Nouveau is a global design style from the 1890s, known for its graceful, flowing lines and organic shapes inspired by natural plant forms.

Arte Povera

Arte Povera (poor art) was an art movement that began in 1960s Italy that encouraged the use of common materials in sculpture.

Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a field of computer science and technology that focuses on creating systems and machines capable of performing tasks that typically require human intelligence.

Artist Appropriation

Appropriation in art involves deliberate borrowing, replicating and modifying of existing images, objects and ideas as an artistic approach.

Artist's Proof

An artist's proof, or AP, is a copy of an edition that is kept by the artist for their own personal use.

Assemblage

An assemblage is an artistic arrangement of pre-existing elements.

Auto-Destructive Art

Auto-destructive art, coined by Gustav Metzger in the 1960s, describes radical artworks where destruction is an integral part of the creation process.

Automatism

Automatism involves crafting artwork without deliberate thought, tapping into the reservoir of the unconscious mind.

Autonomous System

An autonomous system is a system that uses a non-human decision maker.

Avant Garde

Avant-garde in art refers to new and experimental ideas and methods.

Bauhaus

Bauhaus was a groundbreaking institution for art, architecture, and design, founded in 1919 by Walter Gropius in Weimar, Germany.

Ben-Day Dots

The Ben Day process is a method in printing that creates shades of grey or different colours by using intricate ink patterns on paper.

Biennial

A biennial is a significant international art exhibition that takes place every two years.

Biomorphic

Biomorphic art, from 'bios' (life) and 'morphe' (form), relates to abstract shapes or images that resemble naturally occurring forms, such as body parts.

Biomorphism

Biomorphism comes from the Greek ‘bios’ (life) and ‘morphe’ (form), describing abstract shapes or images that remind people of living things.

Black Arts Movement

The Black Arts Movement was an art movement led by African Americans, active in the 1960s and 1970s.

Blockchain

The blockchain is a distributed and decentralised digital ledger that securely records transactions across a network of computers.

Body Art

Body art is a form of art where the primary medium and focus is the human body, often that of the artist.

Caricature

A caricature is a picture, description, or imitation of a person in which specific features are exaggerated, often for humorous or grotesque effect.

Certificate of Authenticity

A certificate of authenticity (COA) is a document that accompanies a piece of artwork to verify its authenticity.

Charcoal Drawing

Charcoal is a black drawing material made of carbon, commonly used for sketching, under-drawing in paintings, and creating finished drawings.

Chicano Art

Chicano Art is a movement by Mexican-American artists to create a distinct artistic identity within the United States.

Classicism

Classicism is the designation for art that draws inspiration from the styles of ancient Greece and Rome.

COA

A COA (certificate of authenticity) is a document that accompanies a piece of artwork to verify its authenticity.

Collagraph

A collagraph is a collage of materials with different textures adhered to a printing plate, typically made of thin wood or cardboard.

Commission

An art commission is when an individual or institution requests that an artist make an artwork especially for them.

Composition in Art

In art, composition is the organisation and arrangement of different visual elements within an artwork.

Conceptual Art

Conceptual art emerged in the late 1960s, prioritising the idea or concept behind the piece over the actual art object.

Conceptualism

Conceptualism is an art movement that emerged in the mid-20th century, emphasizing the idea or concept behind an artwork rather than its visual or aesthetic qualities.

Concrete Art

Ironically, concrete art is a form of abstract art that has no connection to observed reality or any symbolic meaning.

Contemporary Art

Contemporary art describes art that pertains to the current era.

Contour Line

In art, contour lines outline the edges of an object, emphasising the shape's boundaries and significant internal lines.

Developed by the Ancient Greeks, Contrapposto , an Italian term meaning counterpoise, is used in the visual arts to describe a human figure standing with the majority of its weight on one foot. This posture causes the shoulders and arms to twist away from the hips and legs in the axial plane.

Craft

Craft is a creative process that typically results in something that serves a practical purpose, like clothing or utensils.

Creolisation

Creolisation started in the Caribbean, and refers to the blending of diverse peoples, languages, and cultures.

Cubism

Cubism was a revolutionary art style and movement, invented by Picasso and Braque in 1907-08, that brought different viewpoints into the same picture.

Curator

A curator is an individual hired by a museum or gallery to oversee and care for a collection of artworks or artefacts.

Dada

Dada was an artistic movement formed during WWI in Zurich, in response to the war’s horrific scenes. The art was often satirical and nonsensical.

Decadence

Decadence describes an extravagant form of symbolism that emerged in the late nineteenth century, focussing on spiritual, morbid and erotic themes.

Décollage

Décollage (to unstick) is linked to the artistic method of nouveau réalisme (new realism) artists, who created art by tearing posters from walls.

Diaspora

A diaspora is a community of people from a country or ethnic group who have migrated to another part of the world.

Digital Art

Digital art is artwork created or presented using digital technology.

Digital Print

Digital printing is a technique that involves printing an image directly onto various types of media from a digital source.

Diptych

A diptych refers to a single work of art split across two separate surfaces.

Documentary Photography

Documentary photography is aimed at capturing events and settings, whether they’re historically significant or part of everyday life, to create a visual record.

Drypoint

Drypoint is a printmaking method in which a design is inscribed onto a plate using a sharp, needle-like tool.

Edition

An edition refers to a specific set of prints or artworks that are produced at a certain time or for a particular event.

Edition Number

The edition number is the specific number assigned to a print or artwork within an edition, usually indicated as a fraction.

Edition Size

Edition size refers to the total number of copies produced in a specific edition of prints or artworks.

Embossing

Embossing is the act of decorating an object, often with letters, using specialised tools that create a raised mark on its surface.

Engraving

Engraving is a printmaking method where incisions are crafted into a metal plate, serving to hold the ink and shape the resulting printed image.

ERC-1155

ERC-1155 is one of two standards within the Ethereum blockchain ecosystem.

ERC-721

ERC-721 is one of two standards within the Ethereum blockchain ecosystem.

Etching

Etching is an intaglio printmaking technique where acid is used to incise lines or areas into a metal plate, creating channels that retain the ink.

Expanded Cinema

Expanded cinema is an artistic expression that goes beyond traditional film, including video, multi-media performances, and immersive environments.

Expressionism

Expressionism is an art style that distorts reality in order to emphasise personal expression, characterised by intense colour and brushwork.

Fauvism

Fauvism is the style of les fauves, a group of early 20th-century painters (including Matisse) who used vivid and non-naturalistic colours.

Feminist Art

Feminist art is a genre of art linked to the feminist movement of the late 1960s and 1970s.

Film Positive

A film positive is a transparent film displaying a positive image, typically used in printing processes like screen printing.

Fin de Siecle

Fin de Siècle means ‘end of the century.’ In art history, it typically refers to art from the late 19th century.

Flâneur

A 'flâneur' is a French term coined by nineteenth-century poet Charles Baudelaire to describe someone who casually strolls through modern life.

Foreshortening

Foreshortening is the technique of depicting an object or body in a way that creates the illusion of depth and projection in a picture.

Formalism

Formalism is the analysis and comparison of art by focusing on the way it’s made and what it looks like.

Found Object

A found object is a natural or man-made item that an artist discovers or acquires and keeps due to its inherent artistic value.

Fresco

Fresco is a technique for painting murals directly on wet plaster. Popularised during the Italian renaissance, the word literally translates to ‘fresh.'

Frottage

Frottage is a technique where a textured surface is rubbed with a pencil or other drawing tool to create art.

Genre Painting

Genre painting is a style of art that portrays scenes from everyday life, typically featuring ordinary people engaged in various activities.

Geometric Abstraction

Geometric abstraction is a type of abstract art that uses geometric shapes, often placed in non-realistic space, to create non-objective compositions.

Georgian Art

Georgian art refers to the artistic and architectural style that prevailed during the reigns of the four King Georges in Britain from 1714 to 1830.

Gestural

Gestural is a term employed to characterise the technique of applying paint with bold, sweeping brush strokes in a free and expressive manner.

Gouache

Gouache is a water-soluble paint that differs from watercolour on account of its higher opacity.

Graffiti

Graffiti is a term used to describe images or text that are typically spray-painted onto buildings.

Graphic Design

Graphic design refers to the arrangement of visual elements like text and images, typically for advertisements, magazines or books.

Graphite

Graphite is a metallic grey writing and drawing material, primarily used in pencil or powder form.

Grupo Frente

Grupo Frente was a Brazilian art movement in the 1950s that rejected the figuration and nationalism of modernist Brazilian painting.

Hand-finishing

Hand-finishing refers to the manual process of adding finishing touches or details to a print or piece of artwork after the primary creation process.

Hindu Art

Hindu art includes various artistic traditions linked to Hinduism, with deep connections to Hindu scriptures, rituals, and worship.

History Painting

History painting is a genre of painting characterised by its subject matter rather than a particular artistic style or era.

Hyperrealism

Hyperrealism is a style in painting, photography and sculpture that replicates real life in more detail than is actually visible to the human eye, or a standard resolution camera.

Iconography

Iconography refers to the visual images and symbols used in an artwork or design.

Immersive Art

Immersive art offers a heightened level of interactivity and experiential engagement, providing viewers with a more immersive experience.

Impasto

Impasto denotes paint or pigment applied thickly so that it stands out prominently from the surface of an artwork.

Impressionism

Impressionism is an artistic movement that emerged in France in the 1860s, capturing ‘on-the-spot’ moments and the transient effects of sunlight.

Insitutional Critique

Institutional critique involves the practice of critiquing an institution as a form of artistic expression.

Installation

Installation art revolves around crafting an aesthetic or sensory experience within a specific setting, often encouraging active participation.

Intaglio

Printing and printmaking methods where the image is engraved or etched into a surface, and the incised areas retain the ink.

Intersectionality

Intersectionality recognises that individual characteristics like gender, race, class, sexual orientation and physical ability cannot be considered in a vaccum, because their effects are overlapping.

Intervention

An art intervention is a work of art that’s created with the intention of interacting with an existing structure or situation.

Kinetic Art

Kinetic art is a form of art that incorporates movement.

Kitsch

Kitsch refers to art, objects, or design deemed to be in poor taste due to excessive garishness, sentimentality, or knowing irony.

Land Art

Land art is creating art directly within the natural landscape, typically shaping the land itself to form earthworks with natural elements.

Landscape Art

A landscape artwork, whether a painting or drawing, centres on natural scenery like mountains, forests, trees, rivers, and valleys.

Linocut

Linocut, also called lino print or linoleum art, is a printmaking technique similar to woodcut, using linoleum sheets as the relief surface.

Lithography

Lithography is a planographic printing technique where a design is drawn onto a flat stone or a metal plate, and adhered via chemical reactions.

Magical Realism

Magic realism introduces elements of fantasy to reality, or captures reality in a fantastical style.

Mannerist

Mannerist is a 16th-century artistic style marked by artificiality, elegance, and a sensuously distorted portrayal of the human figure.

Medium

Medium can refer to both the artistic category (such as painting, sculpture or printmaking) and the materials used (such as bronze, clay or oil paint) when creating an artwork.

Memento Mori

A memento mori is an artwork or symbol that prompts reflection on mortality and the fleeting nature of human life. The latin translates to “remember you must die.”

Mesh Count

Mesh count refers to the number of threads per inch in a screen used for screen printing.

Metaphysical Art

Metaphysical Art was an early twentieth-century Italian art movement known for its dream-like depictions of mysterious arcaded squares.

Mezzotint

Mezzotint is an engraving method that emerged in the 17th century, producing prints with smooth transitions of tone and deep, velvety black areas.

Minimalism

Minimalism was a primarily American art movement of the 1960s, characterised by simple and often enormous forms.

Mixed Media

Mixed media refers to artworks created by blending various media or materials together.

Modern Art

Modern art is characterised by a departure from traditional styles and values, notably produced from the late 19th century to the late 20th century.

Mono Ha

Mono-ha, also known as the 'School of Things,' was an innovative art movement that originated in Tokyo during the mid-1960s.

Monotype

A monotype is a unique image produced by printing from a smooth plate, like glass or metal, that has been inked with a design.

Montage

A montage is a compilation of related images, coming together to form a complete piece, or a component of a larger piece.

Mosaic Art

A mural technique that involves arranging small fragments of stone, tiles, or shells on a surface to create an image.

Motif in Art

Repeating symbols, themes, or patterns found in a single work or across a series of works.

Naive Art

Art produced by individuals who did not undergo formal training.

Naturalism

Naturalism, combined with realism, influenced impressionism and modern art, with an emphasis on plein air practice (painting scenes outdoors).

Négritude

Négritude was an anti-colonial movement started by African and Caribbean students in 1930s Paris.

Neo-Expressionism

A global revival of expressionist painting that surged in the 1980s.

Neo-Romanticism

Neo-Romanticism is a painting style that emerged in the 20th century, primarily defined by forms or images that evoke nostalgia and fantasy.

NFT

An NFT (Non-Fungible Token) is a type of digital asset that represents ownership or proof of authenticity of a unique item or piece of content in digital form.

Nouveau Realism

Nouveau réalisme was a French art movement in the 1960s that is sometimes considered a European counterpart to American pop art.

Offset Lithography

A lithographic printing process where the image is first transferred onto an intermediate surface before being printed onto the final sheet.

Oil Painting

Oil painting involves using pigments mixed with a drying oil medium as the binding agent.

Oil Pastel

Oil pastels are a painting and drawing medium similar to both pastels and wax crayons.

Old Masters

The ‘Old Masters’ are the canonical European artists, primarily painters, who worked from the Renaissance to 1800.

Op Art

Op Art, short for Optical Art, is an art movement that emerged in the 1960s.

Open Edition

An open edition refers to an edition of prints or artworks with no set limit on the number of copies that will be produced.

Original artwork

An original refers to a unique piece of artwork or the first instance of a particular work, as opposed to reproductions or copies.

Painterly

‘Painterly’ refers to the technique of painting in a loose or less controlled manner, so you can see brush strokes in the final piece.

Papier Collé

Papier collé, a French term for ‘pasted paper’, is a distinctive form of collage that bears a closer resemblance to drawing than to painting.

Participatory Art

Participatory art refers to an artistic form that actively involves the audience in the creative process, transforming them into active participants.

Patina

Patina refers to a distinctive green or brown surface layer that forms on bronze sculptures over time due to oxidation.

Performance Art

An art form that is based on actions performed by the artist or other participants.

Photogram

A photogram is an image created using photographic materials, such as light-sensitive paper, without the use of a camera.

Photomontage

Photomontage is the process of combining multiple photographs to create a single composite image.

Photopolymers

Photopolymers are light-sensitive materials that harden or change their properties when exposed to specific wavelengths of light, commonly used in 3D printing and lithography.

Photorealism

Photorealism includes painting, drawing, and other visual techniques, in which artists strive to recreate a photo image with the utmost realism.

Photosensitive Emulsion

Photosensitive emulsion is a light-sensitive coating applied to a surface, typically used in screen printing and photography to develop images.

Pictures Generation

The ‘Pictures Generation’ describes a cohort of American artists from the early 1970s, noted for their critical examination of media culture.

Plane

In art, a plane is a continuous flat surface – real or imagined.

Planographic Printing

Planographic printing is printing from a flat surface, unlike relief printing that uses raised surfaces, or intaglio printing’s incised surfaces.

Plaster of Paris

Plaster of Paris is a quick-setting gypsum plaster made from a finely ground white powder that solidifies when mixed with water.

Plinth

Traditionally, a plinth is a rectangular slab or block at the bottom of a column, statue, pedestal, or pier – forming its base.

Pop Art

Pop art was a mid-20th-century art movement that celebrated popular culture and everyday objects through vibrant and bold imagery.

Portraits

A portrait is an artwork or image, typically a painting, drawing, photograph, or engraving, that focuses on a person's face or head and shoulders.

Post-Impressionism

Post-Impressionism was a reaction to the Impressionists’ concern for naturalistic depictions of light and colour, developed by Van Gogh and others.

Post-Internet

Post-Internet is a 21st century art movement focusing on creations influenced by the Internet or its impact on aesthetics, culture and society.

Pre-Columbian Art

Pre-Columbian art refers to the indigenous artworks of the Americas prior to Columbus' arrival in 1492.

Printer's Proof (PP)

A printer's proof, or PP, is a proof made for the printer's use, designed to check the quality and consistency of the printing.

Printmaking

Printmaking is an artistic technique that involves transferring images onto another surface, typically paper or fabric.

Process Art

‘Process art’ is when the creative process is a significant element in the finished piece, often making the act of creation itself the subject.

Proof

A proof is a preliminary version of a print made for the purpose of review and correction.

Proportion

The relationship between different elements within a composition, based on their size.

Psychedelic Art

Psychedelic art is linked to the hippy movement of the 1960s, created by artists influenced by psychedelic experiences, often under the influence of drugs like LSD and DMT.

Rayograph

A Rayograph is a photographic print created by placing objects onto photosensitive paper and exposing them to light.

Readymade

Marcel Duchamp coined the term ‘readymade’ in 1916 to describe his art created from manufactured objects. It's now used for similar works by others.

Reference Work

In art, a reference work is the original artwork upon which an edition or reproduction is based. Sometimes these derivatives seek to replicate the reference work exactly, while at other times a reference work serves as a jumping off point for creating something new.

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Parra's studio, with Parra at the centre, his back to the camera as he works on the large painting takes centre stage, showing a faceless blue woman in a striped dress, painted in red, purple, blue and teal. The studio is full of brightly coloured paints, with a large window on the right and a patterned rug across the floor under the painting.