This national exhibition examines the use of the human form as a tool to express varied content and contemporary issues. Some artists submit the image of the body to the demands of the painting itself rather than conceive of it as something that already exists in itself and that the painting has to accommodate by way of codified rules, evident by the eclectic nature of the art in this exhibition. There is a collective notion that figuration art today contains elements of abstraction and that it also follows no rules at all. Artist seem to use, with much more freedom, figure art, and other recognizable forms, with elements of abstraction, that when comprised together provide for an ambiguous narrative. In recent years, several contemporary painters have begun reaching back to the roots of modern art to find new modes of expression. The blending of the two dominating forms of expression, abstraction, and figuration art, is not all that we see happening today in the art of the figure. Artist Francis Bacon always considered his work to exist in this middle ground, somewhere between figuration art and abstraction. With the notion that all is open for grabs, and that no narrative is safe from destruction, we see a very eclectic approach to the figure in contemporary art. Contemporary Figurative art has teamed up with other art genres such as abstract, cubist and minimalist art. It is undeniable that figurative works still have a stronghold in our contemporary sphere. These topics are centered over what it means to be a human in one kind of body or another. But what can be said about figure art in the Contemporary Art world today? Today the current landscape of contemporary figurative work is robust due to the way artists are portraying the human figure in response to the salient topics and issues of the 21st century. We have come to understand figuration as a courier of certain values, codes, and as a symbol of the artist themselves. Later on we see the work of Jean Michel Basquiat through who we have come to understand the distorted figure as the inner world of the artist, depicted in his expressive way, suggesting inner energy and the struggle. There are works in which the figures represent political views and stand to represent the rebellious citizens. The schism between abstract and figure art was possibly one of the most important periods, and the most influential and productive time in Art History. So, where do we see figurative art being today, and more importantly, what place does the human figure hold in Contemporary Art? This national juried show will continue to explore these questions. The Hilliard Gallery has been a leading voice for over twenty-five years for figurative work, and in the last 15 years by hosting our annual contemporary figurative art show, “The Figure in Contemporary Art.” We maintain that it has always remained at the center or core of the artists and the art world. We would disagree with this notion that figurative artwork went to the periphery of the art world. It has been proclaimed that figurative artwork has found its way from the periphery back to the center of the art world.
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