Not so long ago, drawing became the new painting. From small-scale and intimate to wall-sized, highly-worked or resolutely low-fi; whatever its format, the re-appearance of a once side-lined medium marked a dramatic shift in its fortunes and indeed, assumptions about art in general.
But why the change? Was it that, in an art scene increasingly driven by fads, drawing became du jour simply because it hadn’t been for a very long time? Or were other, less obvious factors at work?
Contemporary art refers to the art that has been and still continues to be created during our lifetime. Contemporary form of art is quite different from Modern art, which was art created by the Impressionists from around 1880 until the 1970s. However, there is some overlapping in terms of years when it comes to Modern art and the art of today. But still, both forms of art are considered to be separate, and each occupies its own space in the history of art.
On the other hand, art that was created from the 1970s until present time is labeled as contemporary. The reason that 1970 is used as the cutoff time for the two start forms is because terms like Postmodern and Postmodernism became popular around that time. Also, the 1970s was the last time when the last easily classifiable artistic movements occurred. Basically we can say that contemporary artists work on art movements that cannot be classified as the number of artists in any movement is very few to be actually labeled as a movement.
Cornerhouse Art Centre, located in the heart of Manchester is an international centre for contemporary visual art. However, it is more than just a centre for art; it is a cinema, art gallery, bookshop, bar, cafe and a place for debate. Cornerhouse Art Centre can also be defined as the perfect setting to get away from it all.
Cornerhouse Art Centre was envisaged by the Greater Manchester Visual Arts Trust of which the members were aficionados of visual and performing arts and film. They firmly believed that Manchester was in need of a space for contemporary arts. Therefore, with the assistance of several local organisations the old furniture shop situated on Oxford Road was selected as the place to launch this mission.