ART 105: Art History - Topics in Contemporary Art

Citrus College Course Outline of Record

Citrus College Course Outline of Record
Heading Value
Effective Term: Winter 2021
Credits: 3
Total Contact Hours: 54
Lecture Hours : 54
Lab Hours: 0
Hours Arranged: 0
Outside of Class Hours: 108
Strongly Recommended: ENGL 101.
District General Education: C1. Arts
Transferable to CSU: Yes
Transferable to UC: Yes - Approved
Grading Method: Standard Letter

Catalog Course Description

An investigation of artists and issues in the global contemporary art world. 54 lecture hours.

Course Objectives

  • Appreciate and assess the pluralism of styles, media, and art forms in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
  • Demonstrate a knowledge of the issues surround global contemporary art, including appropriation, identity politics, relational aesthetics, and new media.
  • Evaluate forms, functions, and the interrelationship of art and contemporary global culture.
  • Compare and be able to recognize historic and national styles as well as individual art styles.
  • Distinguish and recognize major art monuments whether painting, sculpture, architecture, combines, earthworks, installations, new media, light shows, etc.
  • Comprehend terms, media, techniques and processes of this period.

Major Course Content

  1. Background
    1. Introduction - define terms
    2. Modern Art, Abstraction and Challenging Traditions
  2. Discovering the Contemporary 
  3. Appropriation and its Consequences (Sherrie Levine, Richard Prince, The Guerrilla Girls, etc.)
  4. Return of Painting and the Figure (Neo-Expressionism)
  5. Street Art (Keith Harring, Bansky, etc.)
  6. Commodities and Consumerism (Jeff Koons, Farhad Mashiri, etc.)
  7. Memory and History (Maya Lin, Kara Walker, etc.)
  8. Culture, Body and Identity (Adrian Piper, Kiki Smith, etc.)
  9. Globalism (Shirin Neshat, Takashi Murakomi, Chen Chieh-jen, etc.)
  10. New Metaphors and New Narratives (Space, Narrativity, Fiction, etc.)
  11. Art of the Contemporary Experience (Art and Mass and Social Media)

Suggested Reading Other Than Required Textbook

Academic articles and primary sources distributed by instructor or linked off course website.

Examples of Required Writing Assignments

Write a one page paper (12 point type, double spaced) on a museum visit.
Choose one work by an artist displayed in the collection of the museum you visit and critique it based on the elements and principles of art, and its aesthetic properties.

Examples of Outside Assignments

Write a one to three page paper (12 point type, double spaced) on a museum visit.
Choose one work by an artist displayed in the collection of the museum you visit and critique it based on the elements and principles of art, and its aesthetic properties.

Instruction Type(s)

Lecture, Online Education Lecture

IGETC Area 3: Arts and Humanities

3A. Fine Arts