The document discusses the differences between subject matter and themes in contemporary art. Subject matter refers to what is literally depicted, such as an image or representation. Themes go beyond the surface level and connect the subject to the larger social and historical context. It can be difficult to separate subject matter from themes completely. Determining themes involves considering things like the title, artist, date, and using symbols and allusions to understand what broader issues and ideas the work of art refers to and questions, such as those around power, identity, and politics.
The document discusses the differences between subject matter and themes in contemporary art. Subject matter refers to what is literally depicted, such as an image or representation. Themes go beyond the surface level and connect the subject to the larger social and historical context. It can be difficult to separate subject matter from themes completely. Determining themes involves considering things like the title, artist, date, and using symbols and allusions to understand what broader issues and ideas the work of art refers to and questions, such as those around power, identity, and politics.
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contemporary philippine arts from the region
Original Title
DIFFERENCE OF SUBJECT MATTER AND THEMES IN CONTEMPORARY
The document discusses the differences between subject matter and themes in contemporary art. Subject matter refers to what is literally depicted, such as an image or representation. Themes go beyond the surface level and connect the subject to the larger social and historical context. It can be difficult to separate subject matter from themes completely. Determining themes involves considering things like the title, artist, date, and using symbols and allusions to understand what broader issues and ideas the work of art refers to and questions, such as those around power, identity, and politics.
The document discusses the differences between subject matter and themes in contemporary art. Subject matter refers to what is literally depicted, such as an image or representation. Themes go beyond the surface level and connect the subject to the larger social and historical context. It can be difficult to separate subject matter from themes completely. Determining themes involves considering things like the title, artist, date, and using symbols and allusions to understand what broader issues and ideas the work of art refers to and questions, such as those around power, identity, and politics.
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DIFFERENCE OF SUBJECT
MATTER AND THEMES IN
CONTEMPORARY ART Subject in arts refers to what they are all about. If there is an image, we identify that image and recognize how it is presented. The image may be representational, or figurative, which means the image is drawn from the world around us. It it is abstract, non-representational or non figurative, it does not have recognizable subject, such as tree or face, or object. Its subject is its form and elements-its texture, color, composition, shape or movement, among others. • Themes are what connects subject to their social milieu, and there are many ways of determining the theme of an artwork. At the most obvious and surface level, we note its initial data: title, artist, medium, dimension, and the year it was made. Beyond this initial data are texts, images, allusion and symbols that clue us in the social and historical context referred to. • Therefore, it is difficult to separate subject matter and theme. Subject matter answers the question “what do we see, hear, smell, taste or touch?” Using our senses is the initial step and this requires keen and diligent observation, not just the image, but how its is represented and if there is no image, how the formal element are deployed. • Themes go beyond the literal, the data on the artwork and what we see at the surface level with our senses. We move on to making sense of the work within a larger context. Example are ecology, identity, migration, globalization, religion and spirituality and political economy. Issues of power come into play, not just in the larger context, but in the art world itself. The insights we gain and the questions we ask will result from our own research and keen observation, but may also be “colored” by our own lenses and point of view. RIZAL MONUMENT SUBJECT: Jose Rizal, national hero
THEME: National Identity and Heroism.
SUBJECT: Standing figure, clutching a book perhaps symbolizing the importance that Rizal placed on education. He shown clad, not in native clothing, but a European overcoat.