Topic 2: Identity is a central concern of contemporary life. Critically examine and discuss how design or art has been used to explore, discuss and express identity.
Identity is a central concern of contemporary life. Identity plays a large part in societies and individuals lives; however it has not just become a central concern. For the last couple of hundred years identity has been a central concern. This central concern of identity is and has been portrayed, explored and discussed through art. In contemporary art there are multiple different art techniques, styles, codes, conventions and forms of art which explore and express identity. In the classical era of art the privilege of having a self-portrait created by an artist and displaying it in your house defined the identity of those people.
In the last 100 years identity has been explored, portrayed and expressed in art through the use of different techniques, styles and forms of art. Different techniques such as rendering, shading, colour usage, and the softness or hardness of the lines are some of the ways in which artist are expressing and exploring the idea of identity. There are multiple different styles being used to express, portray and explore identity, some of these are abstract, cubism, expressionism, impressionism, realism, surrealism ect. These styles allow artist to create new and more in depth and meaningful artworks that can have a deeper, complex and relevant message behind the artwork. Modern artist also use different or mixed forms of art, for example sculpture, printmaking, photography, drawings, paintings, charcoal ect.
The artist Kathe Kollwitz is a German artist (1867-1945). She created artworks that depicted the effects of war and the society’s identity throughout the war. This identity was of famine and starvation, one of fear and confusion and one of death and depression. Throughout the harsh period of the war she created sketches on paper using charcoal. The