Integrative Art as Applied to Contemporary Arts

 Integrated arts
- Practice refers to inter-disciplinary art, art research, development, production, presentation or artistic creation
of work that fully uses two or more art disciplines to create a work for a specific audience.
 Art
- Is “human ingenuity in adapting natural things to man’s use” (Webster)
- Art comes from the word “ars” which means skill
- It is synonymous with skill, cunning, artifice, and craft, which all mean the faculty of what is devised
 Skill
o Skill stresses technical knowledge and proficiency
 Cunning
o Cunning suggest ingenuity and subtlety in devising, inventing, or executing.
 Artifice
o Suggest mechanical skill especially in imitating things in nature
 Craft
o May imply expertness in workmanship and guile in attaining one’s end.
1. Art is a Natural Human Behavior
2. Art is communication
3. Art is healing
4. Art tells our story
5. Art is a shared experience
 Contemporary
- /kənˈtempəˌrerē/
- Synonymous to present, current, modern.
- Living or occurring at the same time
- Belonging to or occurring in the present.
 Contemporary Art
- It is the art of today
- Produced by artist who is living in the 21st Century.
- It is not restricted to individual experience but it is reflective of the world we live in. Events in the world
having an effect to the Philippines.
- Artwork that is created by today’s contemporary artists and has world view, and its sensitive to changing
times.
- The term “contemporary art” refers to art made and produced by artists living today
- Today’s artists work in and respond to a global environment that is culturally diverse, technologically
advancing, and multifaceted.
- Working in a wide range of mediums, contemporary artists often reflect and comment on modern-day society.
- Contemporary art: is the art of today, produced by artists who are living in the twenty-first century.
- Contemporary art: provides an opportunity to reflect on contemporary society and the issues relevant to
ourselves, and the world around us.
- Contemporary artists: work in a globally influenced, culturally diverse, and technologically advancing
world. Their art is a dynamic combination of materials, methods, concepts and subjects that challenge
traditional boundaries and defy easy definition.
 Characteristics of Philippine Contemporary Arts (by classification)
1. Dominant/Mainstream: foreign influenced, industry-driven, technology assisted, oriented for mass
consumption. (E.g Ogie Alcasid and Sarah Geronimo)
2. Alternative: usually social realist and/or advocacy oriented individuals. (E.g. Joey Ayala, Grace Nono,
Kidlat Tahimik)
3. Traditional/Indigenous: preserves local traditions. (E.g. GAMABA awardees- Samaon Sulaiman, Lang
Dulay)
 Elements/Principles of Contemporary Art
1. Appropriation
- Existing artworks are appropriated to produce another artwork. Usage of prints, images, and icons to produce
another art form.
- Combines past from the present. Revives interests to existing forms of art.
2. Performance
- Performance evolved to “emphasize spontaneous elements of chance.” (Walker Art Center)
 - Interpreting various human activities such as ordinary activities such as chores, routines and rituals, to
socially relevant themes such as poverty, commercialism and war.
3. Space
- Arts transforming space. For example: flash mobs, art installation in malls and parks.
- Site Specific forms: art form that is performed and positioned in a specific space such as public places.
4. Hybridity
- Usage of unconventional materials, mixing of unlikely materials to produce an artwork. For example: coffee
for painting, miniature sculptures using crayons.
5. Technology
- Usage of technology in the creation and dissemination of art works.
- Video phenomenon from MTV to Youtube. Recording performances, video posting, sharing, and live
streaming.

Modern Art Contemporary Art

Started in 1860’s Started in 1970’s - Present
Abstractions Social Issues
Art experimentation: Art experimentation
- Drawing - Video Art
- Sculpture - Land Art
- Painting - Performance
Art
- Virtual Art

VISUAL ELEMENTS

1. Line: a line is an identifiable path created by a point moving in space. It is one-dimensional and can vary in
width, direction, and length. Lines often define the edges of a form. Lines can be horizontal, vertical, or diagonal,
straight or curved, thick or thin.
- An element of art that is used to define shape, contours, and outlines, also to continuous mark made on a
surface with a pointed tool or implied by edges of shapes and forms.
Characteristics of a line are:
a) Width: thick, thin, tapering, uneven.
b) Length: long, short, continuous, broken
c) Direction: horizontal, vertical, diagonal, curving, perpendicular, oblique, parallel, radial, zigzag.
d) Focus: sharp, blurry, fuzzy, choppy
e) Feeling: sharp, jagged, graceful, smooth.

Types of Line

 Outlines: lines made by the edge of an object or its silhouette

 Contour lines: lines that describe the shape of an object and the interior detail
 Expressive lines: lines that are energetic and catches the movement and gestures of an active figure.
 Sketch line: lines that captures the appearance of an object or impression of a place
 Calligraphic lines: Greek word meaning “beautiful writing” precise, elegant handwriting or letting done
by hand. Also artwork that has flowing lines like an elegant handwriting.
 Implied line: lines that are not actually drawn but created by a group of objects seen from a distance.
2. Shape
- Shape is a flat, enclosed area of an artwork created through lines, textures, colors or an area enclosed by other
shapes such as triangles, circles and squares. Likewise, a form can refer to a three-dimensional composition or
object within a three-dimensional composition.
Categories of Shapes
a) Geometric Shapes: circles, squares, rectangles, and triangles. We see them in architecture and
manufactured items.
b) Organic shapes: leaf, seashells, flowers. We see them in nature and with characteristics that are free
flowing, informal and irregular.
c) Positive shapes: in a drawing or painting positive shapes are the solid forms in a design such as a bowl of
fruit. In a sculpture it is the solid form of the sculpture.
d) Negative Shapes: in a drawing it is the space around the positive shape or the shape around the bowl of
fruit. In sculpture it is the empty shape around and between the sculptures.
e) Static shapes: Shapes that appears stable and resting
f) Dynamic Shapes: shapes that appears moving and active.
 3. Color
- Is the element of art that is produced when light, striking an object, is reflected back to the eyes. There are
three properties to color. The first is hue, which simply means the name we give to a color (red, yellow, blue
green, etc.). The second property is intensity, which refers to the vividness of the color.
Categories of Color
 Color Wheel: is a tool used to organize color. It is made up of PSTACMWC
a) Primary Colors: red, yellow, blue these colors cannot be mixed, they must be bought in some
form.
b) Secondary Colors: orange, violet, and green these colors are created by mixing two primaries.
c) Tertiary/Intermediate Colors: red orange, yellow green, blue violet, etc., mixing a primary with
a secondary creates these colors.
d) Analogous colors: the analog colors are those colors which lie on either side of any given color.
Ex: orange, red, cherry
e) Complementary colors: are colors that are opposite each other on the color wheel. When placed
next to each other they look bright and when mixed together they neutralize each other.

Ex; yellow, blue, green, pink

f) Monochromatic: is where one color is used but in different values and intensity.

Ex: dark brown, brown, light brown

g) Warm colors: are on one side of the color wheel and they give the feeling of warmth for
example red, orange and yellow are the color of fire and feel warm.
h) Cool colors: are on the other side of the color wheel and they give the feeling of coolness for
example, blue, violet are the color of water and green is the color of cool grass.
4. Space
- Space is any conducive area that an artist provides for a particular purpose. Space includes the background,
foreground, and middle ground, and refers to the distance or area(s) around, between, and within things.

Categories of Space

a) Positive space: like in positive shape it is the actual sculpture or building.

b) Negative space: also like negative shape it is the space around the sculpture or building
c) Picture Plane: is the flat surface of your drawing paper or canvas.
d) Composition: is the organization and placement of elements on your picture plane
e) Focal Point: is the object or area you want the viewer to look at first.

Types of Perspective

- Perspective is an approximate representation, on a flat surface (paper), of an image as it is perceived by the

eye
1) Nonlinear Perspective
- Is the method of showing depth that incorporates the ff. Techniques
a) Position: placing an object higher on the page makes it appear farther back than objects placed lower.
b) Overlapping: when an object overlaps another object, it appears closer to the viewer, and the object behind
appears farther.
c) Size Variation: smaller objects look farther away in the distance. Larger objects look closer.
d) Color: bright colors look like they are closer to you and neutral colors look farther away.
e) Value: lighter values look like they are brighter and darker values look like they are closer.
2) Linear Perspective
- Is the method of using lines to show the illusion of depth in a picture
a) One-point Perspective: when lines created by the sides of tables or building look like that are pointing to the
distance and they all meet at one point perspective.
b) Two-point Perspective: the lines look like they are meeting at two points on the horizon line

Visual Elements

1) Texture
- Stimulates the senses of sight and touch and refers to the tactile quality of the surface of the art.
- Based on the perceived texture of the canvas or surface, which includes the application of the paint.
- Two types: Visual and Actual
 Categories of Texture

a) Real Texture: actual texture of an object. Artist may create real texture in art to give visual interest or evoke
a feeling.
b) Implied Texture: where a piece of art is made to look like a certain texture. Like drawing a rough tree trunk
but it is actually smooth paper.
2) Value
- Relevant to the lightness or darkness of any color, but its importance is easy to visualize in a work with no
colors other than black, white, and grayscale.
Categories of Value
a) Tint: adding white to color paint to create lighter values such as pink or light blue.
b) Shade: adding black to paint to create dark values such as dark blue or dark red.
c) High-key: is where the picture is all light values.
d) Low-key: is where the picture is all dark values
e) Value Contrast: where light values are placed next to the dark values to create contrast or strong
differences
f) Value Scale: is a scale that shows the gradual change in value from its lightest value, to its darkest value
black.
3) Form
- Element of art that is three-dimensional and encloses volume; includes height, width and depth (cube, sphere,
pyramid, cylinder). May also be free flowing.
- Shading a circle in a certain manner can turn it into a sphere
- Form Types:
- Square – cube; rectangle – cylinder; triangle – cone; circle- sphere

Balance

- The way the elements are arranged

- Keeping your design like a pattern. A balanced pattern would be if you had a border on your pattern black.
Unbalanced pattern would be if approximately one-third of the border was orange and two-thirds pink
- Keeping your design symmetric is a good technique for good balance.
- A. Symmetrical Balance – the parts of an image are organized so that one side mirrors the other
- B. Asymmetrical Balance – when one side of a composition does not reflect the design of the other
4) Unity
- Creates a sense of harmony and wholeness, by using similar elements with composition and placing them in a
way that brings them all together.
- Variety adds interest by using contrasting elements with composition.
- Keeping your design in a sort of harmony in which all sections of the pattern make other sections feel
complete. Unity helps the design to be seen as one design instead of randomness all around your design.
5) Harmony
- The quality of how the visual elements are working together in a composition. It is achieved when all
elements have unity and cohesion, giving a sense of completion in an artwork.
- Similar to unity. Harmony brings together a composition with similar units. If your composition was using
wavy lines and organic shapes you would stay with those types of lines and not put in just one geometric
shape
6) Pattern
- Is an underlying structure that organizes surfaces or structures in a consistent, regular manner.
- Can be described as a repeating unit of shape or form, but it can also be thought of as the “skeleton” that
organizes parts of a composition.
- Simply keeping your design in a certain format
7) Contrast
- Is simply defines as difference.
- Difference between art elements like color, value, size, texture, and so on can intensify the elements used.
- As a result, the elements used in a work of art can become more powerful. Although contrast is closely related
with variety, it is usually considered a principle of art.

Visual Art Elements and Principles of Design

-the building blocks or ingredients of art

Principles of Art
 - What we use to organize the elements of art, or tools to make art

1. Balance
The way the elements are arranged
Keeping your design like a pattern
- A. Symmetrical Balance – the parts of an image are organized so that one side mirrors the other
- B. Asymmetrical Balance – when one side of a composition does not reflect the design of the other

2. Emphasis
The focal point of an image, or when one area or thing stand out the most

3. Contrast
- A large difference between two things to create interest and tension
4. Rhythm and Movement
A regular repetition of elements to produce the look and feel of movement
5. Pattern and Repetition
Repetition of a design

6. Unity
When all elements and principles work together to create a pleasing image
7. Variety
- The use of differences and change to increase the visual interest of the work
8. Proportion
- The comparative relationship of one part to another with respect to size, quantity or degree ; SCALE

VISUAL ELEMENTS

LINE FORM

SHAPE

COLOR

SPACE

TEXTURE

VALUE