Context is what we strive for every day. Where is our place; what is our purpose? Art has been in the throes of a constantly changing dialogue across history since we began recording our existence. An anthropological visual torch, its evolving nature has served ideals and philosophies from Neanderthal times to the Renaissance era. Its quasi-mystical element allows it to demand and encompass the widest range of human emotion. Despite the diminishing role of institutionalised religion, spirituality has endured through the optics of humanity and it is no surprise that it is an overriding feature of contemporary art.

Cave art in Pech Marle, France. The painting of the punctuated horses is a unique composition, a masterpiece exceptionally preserved for 29,000 years.
https://www.pechmerle.com/le-centre-de-prehistoire/le-musee-amedee-lemozi/

From the second half of the 20th century, artists began to venture beyond the fringe of traditional art with a range of new media that traverses conventional forms of painting and sculpture. Novel representations of such artistic endeavour include “Installation Art”, which is predominantly site-specific or site-sensitive and calls on the innovative use of space and interaction between the objects of that space. Conversely, “Performance Art” involves the artist employing his or her body itself as the medium to project creativity and is often harnessed as a visceral expression of protest. Since the advent of technology, New Media is also an umbrella term which covers digital art; including but not limited to, video, computer and other multimedia projects.

Yayoi Kusama, Infinity Mirrored Room – The Souls of Millions of Light Years Away, 2013. Courtesy of David Zwirner, N.Y. ©Yayoi Kusama
Further reading: https://magazine.artland.com/art-movements-and-styles/
http://users.rowan.edu/~clowney/Aesthetics/art_spirit.htm
3. Spirituality and Contemporary Art , Rina Arya. https://oxfordre.com/
https://www.interaliamag.org/interviews/rina-arya/ – Dr Rina Arya is a Reader at the University of Wolverhampton who is interested in the visual and material culture of religion. Author of ‘Francis Bacon: Painting in a Godless World’ (2012) and ‘Abjection and Representation’ (2014), she is currently working on a study of cultural appropriation in a Hindu context.
Images
1. https://magazine.artland.com/installation-art-top-10-artists/
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