Contexts of Contemporary Art - Vocabulary

Vocabulary flashcards covering key terms and definitions from the lecture notes on contexts in contemporary art.

Context

The factors surrounding a work of art, including historical events, economic trends, contemporary cultural development, religious attitudes, social norms, and other artworks of the time.

Historical context

The historical, social, political, and artistic climate or period in which the artist was working when the artwork was created.

Cultural context

More subjective influences from the environment that affect an artist’s work; the ways culture and environment shape meaning.

Primary Context

The internal focus on the artist: attitudes, beliefs, interests, values; education, training; biography; and the artist’s intention and purpose.

Secondary Context

External conditions in which the work was produced: religious/philosophical convictions; socio-political and economic structures; climate and geography.

Art as product and process

Art should be understood as both product and the processes of its making – produced within society, culture, and history.

Fernando Amorsolo

A National Artist of the Philippines (1892–1972), pivotal in Philippine art; known for romanticized landscapes, backlighting technique, and depictions of rural life.

Backlighting

A painting technique used by Amorsolo to create luminous, sunlit scenes by lighting subjects from behind.

Girl with Mangos

A painting by Fernando Amorsolo.

Rice Planting, 1964

A painting by Fernando Amorsolo.

Lavandera, 1938

A painting by Fernando Amorsolo.

Sunday Morning Going to Town, 1963

A painting by Fernando Amorsolo.

Society

Systems of regulation and control plus social relations based on class, gender, race, sexuality, ethnicity, spiritual persuasion, political commitment, and moral norms.

Culture

The meaning-making activity of people in society—creating, sharing, and interpreting meanings within a framework of exchange, which can be heterogeneous and evolving.

Cultural Practice and Shared Meaning

The idea that each culture has its own standards of representation, aesthetic conventions, and shared meanings that constitute art’s significance.

History

The process by which society and culture are created by active human agents who transform nature into form in the ongoing remaking of everyday life.

Historical context

Factual reference to the specific movement or moment in history relevant to the artwork.

Aesthetic Experience

The emotional and perceptual responses—such as enchantment, awe, fear, or joy—that contribute to what is considered art.

Consensus of the Art World

The network of institutions (schools, museums, galleries, markets, professions) that sets the terms by which the public perceives art.

Material conditions

Human labor power and means of production, the social and technical relations of production, and the relations between social classes.

Regional context

The unique geographical, socio-political, and cultural circumstances that shape regional contemporary art.

Regionalism in art

A movement that celebrates local tradition and pride of place.

Calatrava pandan weaving

A traditional craft from Calatrava, Negros Occidental, representing a strong regional artistic tradition.

MassKara Festival

A festival in Bacolod City, Negros Occidental known for colorful masks and street dances.

Promdi

Short for 'from the province'; often used as a derogatory term for rural people, repurposed by The Promdi Project to educate urban audiences.

Promdi Project

An initiative that publicly engages Manileños with Negrense cultural knowledge, reframing the term 'Promdi'.