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Friday, 28 June 2019

How to Understand Performance Art

The term "Performance Art" got its start in the 1960s in the United States. It was originally used to describe any live artistic event that included poets, musicians, filmmakers, etc. - in addition to visual artists. If you weren't around during the 1960s, you missed a vast array of "Happenings," "Events" and Fluxus "concerts," to name just a few of the descriptive words that were used.
 It's worth noting that, even though we're referencing the 1960s here, there were earlier precedents for Performance Art. The live performances of the Dadaists, in particular, meshed poetry and the visual arts. The German Bauhaus, founded in 1919, included a theater workshop to explore relationships between space, sound, and light. The Black Mountain College (founded [in the United States] by Bauhaus instructors exiled by the Nazi Party), continued incorporating theatrical studies with the visual arts - a good 20 years before the 1960s Happenings happened. You may also have heard of "Beatniks" - stereotypically: cigarette-smoking, sunglasses and black-beret-wearing, poetry-spouting coffeehouse frequenters of the late 1950s and early 1960s. Though the term hadn't yet been coined, all of these were forerunners of Performance Art.


The Development of Performance Art

By 1970, Performance Art was a global term, and its definition a bit more specific. "Performance Art" meant that it was live, and it was art, not theater. Performance Art also meant that it was art that could not be bought, sold or traded as a commodity. Actually, the latter sentence is of major importance. Performance artists saw (and see) the movement as a means of taking their art directly to a public forum, thus completely eliminating the need for galleries, agents, brokers, tax accountants and any other aspect of capitalism. It's a sort of social commentary on the purity of art, you see.

In addition to visual artists, poets, musicians, and filmmakers, Performance Art in the 1970s now encompassed dance (song and dance, yes, but don't forget it's not "theater"). Sometimes all of the above will be included in a performance "piece" (you just never know). Since Performance Art is live, no two performances are ever exactly the same.
The 1970s also saw the heyday of "Body Art" (an offshoot of Performance Art), which began in the 1960s. In Body Art, the artist's own flesh (or the flesh of others) is the canvas. Body Art can range from covering volunteers with blue paint and then having them writhe on a canvas, to self-mutilation in front of an audience. (Body Art is often disturbing, as you may well imagine.)
Additionally, the 1970s saw the rise of the autobiography being incorporated into a performance piece. This kind of story-telling is much more entertaining to most people than, say, seeing someone shot with a gun. (This actually happened, in a Body Art piece, in Venice, California, in 1971.) The autobiographical pieces are also a great platform for presenting one's views on social causes or issues.
Since the beginning of the 1980s, Performance Art has increasingly incorporated technological media into pieces - mainly because we have acquired exponential amounts of new technology. Recently, in fact, an 80's pop musician made the news for Performance Art pieces which use a Microsoft® PowerPoint presentation as the crux of the performance. Where Performance Art goes from here is only a matter of combining technology and imagination. In other words, there are no foreseeable boundaries for Performance Art.

What Are the Characteristics of Performance Art?

  • Performance Art is live.
  • Performance Art has no rules or guidelines. It is art because the artist says it is art. It is experimental.
  • Performance Art is not for sale. It may, however, sell admission tickets and film rights.
  • Performance Art may be comprised of painting or sculpture (or both), dialogue, poetry, music, dance, opera, film footage, turned on television sets, laser lights, live animals and fire. Or all of the above. There are as many variables as there are artists.
  • Performance Art is a legitimate artistic movement. It has longevity (some performance artists, in fact, have rather large bodies of work) and is a degreed course of study in many post-secondary institutions.
  • Dada, Futurism, the Bauhaus and the Black Mountain College all inspired and helped pave the way for Performance Art.
  • Performance Art is closely related to Conceptual Art. Both Fluxus and Body Art are types of Performance Art.
  • Performance Art may be entertaining, amusing, shocking or horrifying. No matter which adjective applies, it is meant to be memorable.

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What Is the Definition of 'Medium' in Art?

In art, "medium" refers to the substance the artist uses to create a piece of artwork. For example, the medium Michelangelo used to create "David"(1501-1504) was marble, Alexander Calder's stabiles employ painted steel plates, and Marcel Duchamp's infamous "Fountain" (1917) was made with a porcelain medium.
The word medium can be used in other contexts within the art world as well. Let's explore this simple word and its sometimes confusing array of meanings.

"Medium" as a Type of Art

A broad use of the word medium is used to describe a specific type of art. For instance, painting is a medium, printmaking is a medium, and sculpture is a medium. Essentially, every category of artwork is its own medium.
The plural of medium in this sense is media.

"Medium" as an Artistic Material

Building off the type of art, medium can also be used to describe a particular artistic material. This is how artists describe the specific materials that they work with to create a piece of art.
Painting is a perfect example of how this is distinguished. It is very common to see descriptions of the type of paint used as well as the support it was painted on.
For example, you'll see notations following the titles of paintings that read along the lines of:
  • "Gouache on paper"
  • "Tempera on board"
  • "Oil on canvas"
  • "Ink on bamboo"
The possible combinations of paint and support are endless, so you will see many variations of this. Artists choose the materials they enjoy working with or those that work best for a particular piece of work.
This use of the word medium applies to all types of artwork as well. Sculptors, for instance, may use metal, wood, clay, bronze, or marble for their medium. Printmakers may use words like woodcut, linocut, etching, engraving, and lithography to describe their medium. Artists who use multiple media in a single piece of art typically call it "mixed media," which is common for techniques like a collage.
The plural for medium in this sense is media.

A Medium Can Be Anything

While those examples are common forms of media, many artists choose to work with or incorporate less traditional materials into their work. There are no limits and the more you learn about the art world, the more oddities you will discover.
Any other physical material—from used chewing gum to dog hair—is fair game as an artistic medium. At times, artists can become extremely creative about this whole media business and you may run across things in art that defy belief. You will find artists who even incorporate the human body or things derived from it as their medium. It's quite interesting and can also be rather shocking.
Though you might be tempted to point, sputter, and laugh when you come across these, it is often best to gauge the mood of the company you're in. Think about where you and who is around you. Even if you think the art is unusual, you can often avoid many faux pas by keeping those to yourself in some situations. Keep in mind that art is subjective and you will not enjoy everything.

"Medium" as a Pigment Additive

The word medium is also used when referring to the substance which binds a pigment to create a paint. In this case, the plural of medium is mediums.
The actual medium used is dependent on the type of paint. For instance, linseed oil is a common medium for oil paints and egg yolks are a common medium for tempera paints.
At the same time, artists can use a medium to manipulate the paint. A gel medium, for example, will thicken a paint so the artist can apply it in textural techniques like impasto. Other mediums are available that will thin paints and make them more workable.



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The Most Important Functions of Art

First, proceed with this caution: No piece of art can be "assigned" a function (or functions), either in essay form or in casual conversation, if it isn't first considered within the proper context. Trying to classify function depends on context.
Ideally, one can look at a piece of art and know (approximately) where it came from and when. The best-case scenario includes identifying the artist, as well, because s/he is part of the contextual equation (i.e., What was the artist thinking at the time s/he created this?). You, the viewer, are the other half (i.e., What does this piece of art mean to you, living right now?). These are all factors that should be considered before trying to assign functions. Besides, taking anything out of context can lead to misunderstanding, which is never a happy place to visit.

The Physical Functions of Art

The physical functions of art are often the easiest to understand. Works of art that are created to perform some service have physical functions.
If you see a Fijian war club, you may assume that, however wonderful the craftsmanship may be, it was created to perform the physical function of smashing skulls.
A Japanese raku bowl is art that performs a physical function in the tea ceremony. Conversely, a fur-covered teacup from the Dada movement has no physical function.
Architecture, any of the crafts, and industrial design are all types of art that have physical functions.

The Social Functions of Art

Art has a social function when it addresses aspects of (collective) life, as opposed to one person's point of view or experience.

For example, public art in 1930s Germany had an overwhelming symbolic theme. Did this art exert influence on the German population? Decidedly so, as did political and patriotic posters in Allied countries during the same time.
Political art (skewed to whatever message) always carries a social function. The fur-covered Dada teacup, useless for holding tea, carried a social function in that it protested World War I (and nearly everything else in life).
Art that depicts social conditions performs social functions. The Realists figured this out early in the 19th century. Dorothea Lange (and, indeed, many other photographers) often photographed people in conditions we'd rather not think about.
Additionally, satire performs social functions. Francisco Goya and William Hogarth both went this route, with varying degrees of success at enacting social change.
Sometimes having specific pieces of art in a community can perform the social function of elevating that community's status. A Calder stabile, for example, can be a community treasure and point of pride.


The Personal Functions of Art

The personal functions of art are often the most difficult to explain. There are many types of personal function, and they are subjective and will, therefore, vary from person to person.
An artist may create out of a need for self-expression, or gratification. S/he might have wanted to communicate a thought or point to the viewer. Perhaps the artist was trying to provide an aesthetic experience, both for self and viewers. A piece might have been meant to "merely" entertain others. Sometimes a piece isn't meant to have any meaning at all.
(This is vague, I know. The above is a great example of how knowing the artist can help one "cut to the chase" and assign functions.)
On a slightly more lofty plane, art may serve the personal functions of control. Art has been used to attempt to exert magical control over time, or the seasons or even the acquisition of food. Art is used to bring order to a messy and disorderly world. Conversely, art can be used to create chaos when an artist feels life is too staid and ordinary. Art can also be therapeutic - for both the artist and the viewer.
Yet another personal function of art is that of religious service (lots of examples for this, aren't there?). Finally, sometimes art is used to assist us in maintaining ourselves as a species. Biological functions would obviously include fertility symbols (in any culture), but I would also invite scrutiny of the ways we adorn ourselves in order to be attractive enough to, well, mate.
You, the viewer, are half of the equation in assigning a function to art. These personal functions apply to you, as well as the artist. It all adds up to innumerable variables when trying to figure out the personal functions of art. My best advice is to stick with the most obvious and provide only those details you know as factual.
In sum, try to remember four points when required to describe "the functions of art": (1) context and (2) personal, (3) social and (4) physical functions. Good luck, and may your own words flow freely!





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An Introduction to Representational Art

The word "representational," when used to describe a work of art, means that the work depicts something easily recognized by most people. Throughout our history as art-creating humans, most art has been representational. Even when art was symbolic, or non-figurative, it was usually representative of something. Abstract (non-representational) art is a relatively recent invention and didn't evolve until the early 20th-century.

What Makes Art Representational?

There are three basic types of art: representational, abstract, and non-objective. Representational is the oldest, best-known, and most popular of the three.
Abstract art typically starts with a subject that exists in the real world but then presents those subjects in a new way. A well-known example of abstract art is Picasso's Three Musicians. Anyone looking at the painting would understand that its subjects are three individuals with musical instruments–but neither the musicians nor their instruments are intended to replicate reality.
Non-objective art does not, in any way, replicate or represent reality. Instead, it explores color, texture, and other visual elements without reference to natural or constructed world. Jackson Pollock, whose work involved complex splatters of paint, is a good example of a non-objective artist.
Representational art strives to depict reality. Because representational artists are creative individuals, however, their work need not look precisely like the object they are representing. For example, Impressionist artists such as Renoir and Monet used patches of color to create visually compelling, representative paintings of gardens, people, and locations.

History of Representational Art

Representational art got its start many millennia ago with Late Paleolithic figurines and carvings. Venus of Willendorf, while not too terribly realistic, is clearly meant to show the figure of a woman. She was created around 25,000 years ago and is an excellent example of the earliest representational art.
Ancient examples of representational art are often in the form of sculptures, decorative friezes, bas-reliefs, and busts representing real people, idealized gods, and scenes from nature. During the middle ages, European artists focused largely on religious subjects.
During the Renaissance, major artists such as Michaelangelo and Leonardo Da Vinci created extraordinarily realistic paintings and sculptures. Artists were also commissioned to paint portraits of members of the nobility. Some artists created workshops in which they trained apprentices in their own style of painting.
By the 19th century, representative artists were beginning to experiment with new ways of expressing themselves visually. They were also exploring new subjects: instead of focusing on portraits, landscapes, and religious subjects, artists experiments with socially relevant topics related to the Industrial Revolution.

Present Status

Representational art is thriving. Many people have a higher degree of comfort with representational art than with abstract or non-objective art. Digital tools are providing artists with a wider range of options for capturing and creating realistic images.
Additionally, the workshop (or atelier) system continues to exist, and many of these teach figurative painting exclusively. One example is the School of Representational Art in Chicago, Illinois. There are also whole societies dedicated to representational art. Here in the United States, the Traditional Fine Arts Organization comes quickly to mind. A web search using the keywords of "representational + art + (your geographical location)" should turn up venues and/or artists in your area.
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Why Should I Study Art History?

Each semester students find themselves enrolled in Art History classes for the first time. Ideally, they enrolled because they wanted to study the history of art and are enthusiastic about the prospect. This isn't always the case, however. Students may take Art History because it is required, or it seems like a good choice for AP credit in high school, or even because it is the only elective that fits into that semester's class schedule. When one of the latter three scenarios apply and a student realizes that Art History is not going to be an easy "A," questions invariably arise: how come I took this class? What's in it for me? Why should I study art history?
Why? Here are five compelling reasons to cheer you.

1. Because Every Picture Tells a Story

I would argue that this is the single most fun reason to study Art History, and it doesn't just apply to pictures (that was merely a catchy headline for folks who were Rod Stewart fans back in the day).
You see, every artist operates under a unique set of circumstances and all of them affect his or her work. Pre-literate cultures had to appease their gods, ensure fertility and frighten their enemies through art. Italian Renaissance artists had to please either the Catholic Church, rich patrons, or both. Korean artists had compelling nationalistic reasons to distinguish their art from Chinese art. Modern artists strove to find new ways of seeing even while catastrophic wars and economic depression swirled around them. Contemporary artists are every bit as creative, and also have contemporary rents to pay -- they need to balance creativity with sales.
No matter which piece of art or architecture you see, there were personal, political, sociological and religious factors behind its creation. Untangling them and seeing how they connect to other pieces of art is huge, delicious fun! 

2. Because There Is More to Art History than You May Think 

 This may come as news, but art history is not just about drawing, painting, and sculpture. You will also run across calligraphy, architecture, photography, film, mass media, performance art, installations, animation, video art, landscape design, and decorative arts like arms and armor, furniture, ceramics, woodworking, goldsmithing, and much more. If someone created something worth seeing -- even a particularly fine black velvet Elvis -- art history will offer it to you.

3. Because Art History Hones Your Skills

 As was mentioned in the introductory paragraph, art history is not an easy "A." There is more to it than memorizing names, dates, and titles.
An art history class also requires you analyze, think critically, and write well. Yes, the five paragraph essay will rear its head with alarming frequency. Grammar and spelling will become your best friends, and you cannot escape citing sources.
Listen, I can practically hear you groaning from here, but don't despair. These are all excellent skills to have, no matter where you want to go in life. Suppose you decide to become an engineer, scientist, or physician -- analysis and critical thinking define these careers. And if you want to be a lawyer, get used to writing now. See? Excellent skills. I promise.

4. Because Our World Is Becoming More and More Visual

 Think, really think about the amount of visual stimulation with which we are bombarded on a daily basis. You are reading this on your computer monitor, smartphone, iPad or tablet. Realistically, you may own all of these. In your spare time, you might watch television or videos on the internet, or play graphic-intensive video games. We ask our brains to process immense amounts of images from the time we wake until we fall asleep -- and even then, some of us are vivid dreamers.
As a species, we are shifting from predominantly verbal thinking to visual thinking. Learning is becoming more visually- and less text-oriented; this requires us to respond not just with analysis or rote memorization, but also with emotional insight.
Art History offers you the tools you need to respond to this cavalcade of imagery. Think of it as a type of language, one that allows the user to successfully navigate new territory. Or, at least, find the location of a public restroom. Either way, you benefit.

5. Because Art History Is YOUR History

Each of us springs from a genetic soup seasoned by innumerable generations of cooks. It is the most human thing imaginable to want to know about our ancestors, the people who made us us. What did they look like? How did they dress? Where did they gather, work, and live? Which gods did they worship, enemies did they fight, and rituals did they observe?
Now consider this: photography has been around less than 200 years, film is even more recent, and digital images are relative newcomers. If we want to see any person that existed prior to these technologies we must rely on an artist. This isn't a problem if you come from a royal family where portraits of every King Tom, Dick, and Harry are hanging on the palace walls, but the other seven-or-so billion of us have to do a little art-historic digging.
The good news is that digging through art history is a fascinating pastime so, please, grab your mental shovel and commence. You will discover visual evidence of who and where you came from -- and gain some insight on that genetic soup recipe. Tasty stuff!

 

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What Are the Visual Arts?

Montreal Museums Day 2016 participating museums include the Biosphere, the Biodome and the Montreal Planetarium.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Guylain Doyle / Getty Images
by
The visual arts are those creations that we can see rather than something like the auditory arts, which we hear. These art forms are extremely diverse, from the artwork that hangs on your wall to the movie you watched last night.

What Types of Art Are Visual Arts?

The visual arts include mediums such as drawing, painting, sculpture, architecture, photography, film, and printmaking. Many of these pieces of art are created to stimulate us through a visual experience. When we look at them, they often provoke a feeling of some sort.
Within the visual arts is a category known as the decorative arts, or craft. This is art that is more utilitarian and has a function but retains an artistic style and still requires talent to create. The decorative arts include ceramics, furniture making, textiles, interior design, jewelry making, metal crafting, and woodworking.

What Are 'The Arts'?

The arts, as a term, has an interesting history. During the Middle Ages, the arts were scholarly, limited to seven categories, and did not involve creating anything for people to look at. They were grammar, rhetoric, dialectic logic, arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music.
To further confuse matters, these seven arts were known as the fine arts, in order to distinguish them from the useful arts because only "fine" people—those who did not do manual labor—studied them. Presumably, the useful arts people were too busy being useful to require an education.
At some point in the ensuing centuries, people realized there was a difference between a science and an art. The phrase fine arts came to mean anything that had been created to please the senses. After losing the sciences, the list then included music, dance, opera, and literature, as well as what we think of as the visual arts: painting, sculpture, architecture, and the decorative arts.
That list of fine arts got a little long for some. During the 20th century, the fine arts were split up into further categories.
  • Literature
  • Visual arts (e.g., painting, sculpture)
  • Auditory arts (e.g., music, radio drama)
  • Performance arts (can combine the other categories of arts, but they are performed live, such as theater and dance. Note the plural to distinguish it from performance art, which is performed art that is not theater.)
Visual arts can also be subdivided into graphic arts (those done on a flat surface) and plastic arts (e.g., sculpture).

What Makes Art 'Fine'?

Within the world of the visual arts, people still make distinctions between "fine" art and everything else. It really does get confusing, and it can change, depending on who you're speaking with.
For instance, painting and sculpture are almost automatically classified as fine arts. The decorative arts, which are at times exhibit a finer nature and craftsmanship than some fine arts, are not called "fine."
Additionally, visual artists sometimes refer to themselves (or are referred to by others) as fine artists, as opposed to commercial artists. However, some commercial art is really wonderful—even "fine," some would say.
Because an artist needs to sell art in order to remain a working artist, a strong argument could be made that most art is commercial. Instead, the category of commercial art is typically reserved for art created to sell something else, such as for an advertisement.
This is exactly the kind of wording that puts many people off of art!
It would really simplify matters if we could all just stick with visual, auditory, performance, or literary when we speak of the arts and eliminate fine altogether, but that's now how the art world sees it.
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Some kinds of Visual Arts

Photography

Photography is the process of making pictures by means of the action of light. The light patterns reflected or emitted from objects are recorded onto a sensitive medium or storage chip through a timed exposure. The process is done through mechanical shutters or electronically timed exposure of photons into chemical processing or digitizing devices known as cameras.
The word comes from the Greek words φως phos ("light"), and γραφις graphis ("stylus", "paintbrush") or γραφη graphê, together meaning "drawing with light" or "representation by means of lines" or "drawing." Traditionally, the product of photography has been called a photograph. The term photo is an abbreviation; many people also call them pictures. In digital photography, the term image has begun to replace photograph. (The term image is traditional in geometric optics.)

Architecture

Saint Basil's Cathedral from the Red Square (Moscow). Its extraordinary onion-shaped domes, painted in bright colors, create a memorable skyline, making St. Basil's a symbol both of Moscow and Russia as a whole
Tenements, by Jörg Blobelt, in Dresden (Germany). These buildings are decorated with Neoclassical motifs, giveing them elegance, balance and refinement
Architecture is the process and the product of planning, designing, and constructing buildings or any other structures. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural symbols and as works of art. Historical civilizations are often identified with their surviving architectural achievements.
The earliest surviving written work on the subject of architecture is De architectura, by the Roman architect Vitruvius in the early 1st century AD. According to Vitruvius, a good building should satisfy the three principles of firmitas, utilitas, venustas, commonly known by the original translation – firmness, commodity and delight. An equivalent in modern English would be:
  1. Durability – a building should stand up robustly and remain in good condition.
  2. Utility – it should be suitable for the purposes for which it is used.
  3. Beauty – it should be aesthetically pleasing.
Building first evolved out of the dynamics between needs (shelter, security, worship, etc.) and means (available building materials and attendant skills). As human cultures developed and knowledge began to be formalized through oral traditions and practices, building became a craft, and "architecture" is the name given to the most highly formalized and respected versions of that craft.

Filmmaking

Filmmaking is the process of making a motion-picture, from an initial conception and research, through scriptwriting, shooting and recording, animation or other special effects, editing, sound and music work and finally distribution to an audience; it refers broadly to the creation of all types of films, embracing documentary, strains of theatre and literature in film, and poetic or experimental practices, and is often used to refer to video-based processes as well

Computer art

Visual artists are no longer limited to traditional art media. Computers have been used as an ever more common tool in the visual arts since the 1960s. Uses include the capturing or creating of images and forms, the editing of those images and forms (including exploring multiple compositions) and the final rendering or printing (including 3D printing).
Computer art is any in which computers played a role in production or display. Such art can be an image, sound, animation, video, CD-ROM, DVD, video game, website, algorithm, performance or gallery installation. Many traditional disciplines are now integrating digital technologies and, as a result, the lines between traditional works of art and new media works created using computers have been blurred. For instance, an artist may combine traditional painting with algorithmic art and other digital techniques. As a result, defining computer art by its end product can be difficult. Nevertheless, this type of art is beginning to appear in art museum exhibits, though it has yet to prove its legitimacy as a form unto itself and this technology is widely seen in contemporary art more as a tool rather than a form as with painting.
Computer usage has blurred the distinctions between illustrators, photographers, photo editors, 3-D modelers, and handicraft artists. Sophisticated rendering and editing software has led to multi-skilled image developers. Photographers may become digital artists. Illustrators may become animators. Handicraft may be computer-aided or use computer-generated imagery as a template. Computer clip art usage has also made the clear distinction between visual arts and page layout less obvious due to the easy access and editing of clip art in the process of paginating a document, especially to the unskilled observer.

Plastic arts

Plastic arts is a term for art forms that involve physical manipulation of a plastic medium by moulding or modeling such as sculpture or ceramics. The term has also been applied to all the visual (non-literary, non-musical) arts.[17][18]
Materials that can be carved or shaped, such as stone or wood, concrete or steel, have also been included in the narrower definition, since, with appropriate tools, such materials are also capable of modulation.[citation needed] This use of the term "plastic" in the arts should not be confused with Piet Mondrian's use, nor with the movement he termed, in French and English, "Neoplasticism."

Sculpture

Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard or plastic material, sound, or text and or light, commonly stone (either rock or marble), clay, metal, glass, or wood. Some sculptures are created directly by finding or carving; others are assembled, built together and fired, welded, molded, or cast. Sculptures are often painted.[19] A person who creates sculptures is called a sculptor.
Because sculpture involves the use of materials that can be moulded or modulated, it is considered one of the plastic arts. The majority of public art is sculpture. Many sculptures together in a garden setting may be referred to as a sculpture garden.
Sculptors do not always make sculptures by hand. With increasing technology in the 20th century and the popularity of conceptual art over technical mastery, more sculptors turned to art fabricators to produce their artworks. With fabrication, the artist creates a design and pays a fabricator to produce it. This allows sculptors to create larger and more complex sculptures out of material like cement, metal and plastic, that they would not be able to create by hand. Sculptures can also be made with 3-d printing technology.
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