MODERNISM: HISTORY AND IMPACT

Modernism (around 1860-1970) as an art movement, formed out of rapid industrial, technological and societal changes that ruptured traditions and the perceived stability of culture.

Multiple Modernisms, shaped by the many different responses to these new conditions, generated new methods and approaches in art. Modernism had parallel paths throughout the world through travel, trade routes and cultural exchange, alongside forced change through the devastation of war, uneven power structures and control, displacement, political and civil unrest. Through this cultural upheaval in many different societies, profound shifts took place in life, art and meaning.

MODERNIST METHODS

The Modernist view was one lens of inquiry, leading artists to revolt, seeking new ways to embody their ideas and develop personal experimentation with mediums.

The artist could transform their subjective experiences through their materials: art became conceptual and abstract, or highly gestural and avant-garde. Formal conventions in art were rejected in favour of experimental approaches to line, form and colour. Artists addressed their local histories and culture, personal and social realities, religion, philosophies and politics in confronting and inventive ways.

MODERNISM AND CONTEMPORARY PRACTICE

In Contemporary art, we are still in an ongoing conversation with the Modernist attitude. Modernism offers a methodology for what is possible in our materials and in expressing our experiences of change and uncertainty.

Contemporary art continues to reanimate this relationship to the conceptual and experimental aspects of seeing and art making. Contemporary art also questions the limits of Modernist ideas, providing a creative tension point and place of departure.

WHY DRAWING MATTERS

Drawing can provide a valuable intersection between the ideas of Modernism and the underlying creative structures of Contemporary art.

The modernist experiments with the medium; the Contemporary artist invents new mediums. Contemporary art addresses broader global narratives through unlimited methodologies and multi-media. Drawing can return us to a form of visual thinking and expression that is grounded and instinctive, reconnecting us to ourselves before we extend our ideas more broadly.