Art Glossary

A Chinese term that describes performance art. This concept is relatively new and may be challenging to articulate unless people understand the intentions behind it. It is a flexible concept that (...) read more

A Biennial is an art exhibition held every two years, typically on a large scale with international participants. The first and most famous example is the Venice Biennale, established in 1895 and (...) read more

Body art involves creating art directly on or with the human body. Common forms include body piercings and tattoos, but it also encompasses practices like branding, scarification, scalping, body (...) read more

Bricolage is the creation or construction of a piece of art using materials that are readily available to the artist. The term is French and roughly translates to do-it-yourself. This approach became (...) read more

Browser art is a form of renegade art where artists use computers to transform code, website structures, and server links into visual material. These artists, often called net artists or net writers, (...) read more

Brutalism is an architectural style from the 1950s and 60s characterized by the use of raw concrete to create block-like forms. This style was often applied in public housing and civic buildings, (...) read more

Capitalist Realism is a German form of political pop art that emerged in Cold War-era Berlin in 1963. It sought to challenge the dominance of American pop art in the Western world. The movement (...) read more

A cast is a form created by pouring a liquid material, such as plastic, plaster, acrylic, concrete, or mixed media, into a mold. Once the liquid cools and fully solidifies, the cast is removed from (...) read more

A Catalogue Raisonné is an annotated and comprehensive listing of all the known works of an artist. It includes detailed information that helps to identify and authenticate the artist's output across (...) read more

Ceramics is an art form that involves creating objects from clay. The clay is shaped, molded, and formed by hand or with specialized tools, then baked (or fired) in a high-temperature oven called a (...) read more

Chinese Contemporary Art is marked by a wide range of styles and experimental approaches. In the 1980s, avant-garde exhibitions were often shut down by government officials. The 1990s saw the rise of (...) read more

CoBrA stands for Copenhagen, Brussels, and Amsterdam; the group was formed with a desire to break away from the existing art movements of the time. Their critique of Western society led them to (...) read more

Colour Field Painting is an abstract style characterized by large areas of a single color or simple, solid colors. The term was first used in the 1950s to describe the work of three American Abstract (...) read more

Comic strip art refers to artwork that utilizes the subject matter and commercial printing techniques found in comic strips. In the 1960s, a group of artists began creating paintings that (...) read more

Composition refers to the arrangement of elements within an artwork. The artist carefully organizes these elements to create a harmonious or intentionally dynamic relationship. Traditional approaches (...) read more

Computer art refers to any type of digital imagery or graphic artwork created using a computer. Art curators often classify art made with computers as either digital art or new media art. Artists (...) read more

Sometimes referred to as Conceptualism, this is an art form where the idea(s) or concept(s) behind the work take precedence over material concerns and traditional aesthetics. Many conceptual artworks (...) read more

Concrete Art is an art movement founded by the Dutch artist Theo van Doesburg in the 1930s. The movement emphasizes pure abstraction, focusing on geometric shapes and colors without any reference to (...) read more

Constructivism is an architectural and artistic philosophy of Russian origin that emerged as a rejection of the idea of autonomous art. The movement advocated for art to serve practical social (...) read more

Contemporary art refers to avant-garde or innovative art created in the recent past or present day. The exact starting point of contemporary art varies depending on the institution, often tied to the (...) read more

Contemporary art from India dates from 1985 to the present, marking the post-liberalization era. During this period, artists have felt free to create independently of traditional Hindu or social (...) read more

An object with distinctive or unusual qualities that naturally draws attention and prompts discussion among people. read more

This Italian art movement includes artists from Italy, Belgium, and France who are known for creating public installations using recyclable plastic to craft massive animal sculptures. The artwork (...) read more

Cubism is an art movement that aimed to depict multiple perspectives of objects or figures within a single picture. Artists Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso pioneered this style around 1907. The name (...) read more