Adaption of Renaissance Artistic Representations in Modern Day Artists

Analyse how Renaissance artistic representations have been adapted in the work of modern-day artists operating in the modern art. What implications does this have for ideas of artistic style in the modern age.

The Renaissance is a European ideological and cultural movement, which means liberating the nature of the people and saving the people from the thought of medieval church rule. Therefore, humanism has become the core idea of ​​the Renaissance. Humanism means to pay attention to the role of people. This core idea caused changes in the style of painting at that time, focusing on the lines of the human body and the direction of beautiful shapes. The artistic style of the Renaissance and the concept influence the development and transformation of later generations of art continuously, especially the influence of contemporary art styles and artistic expressions. Contemporary artworks use digital media images to create large immersive installations that reproduce Renaissance works, or It is the integration of the elements of the Renaissance works into contemporary works. This is the simplest and most common way to display that Renaissance influences modern art. Some contemporary artists are influenced by the mind from the Renaissance, thus integrating these ideas into their works. This is a higher form of what the renaissance influence modern art. Whether the influence of the Renaissance on contemporary art is all positive, it is a question worth discussing. But the artistic expression and thought of the Renaissance are indeed widely used in contemporary art.

The use of digital images directly in the Renaissance works, or the direct application of its elements to contemporary artworks is a common phenomenon in the curation of modern art. “The Renaissance has created a new course of human civilization, and the new art form created and applied by art under the guidance of humanism reflects the ideological concepts of the emerging bourgeoisie. While contributing to the world an invaluable artistic treasure, it also sings human wisdom and strength and praise for the sublimity and perfection of human nature, have a tremendous impact and value to future generations”(popoviciu,2014) Due to the fact that Renaissance works have a high artistic value, therefore, these works are followed and imitated by artists and even the public who love the art. At the same time, and with the development of technology, digital media has become common for contemporary installation art. Wenxia Kong noted that the development of digital media technology has broadened people’s lifestyle and constructed a new visual formal language. Today’s digital media arts are playing an important role in the new country. (Wenxia,2017). Many art galleries and artists use numbers. Imaging digital media to represent Renaissance art such a way is to provide the public with an opportunity to appreciate the paintings of the Renaissance because the time and money spent watching the original are very expensive. On the other hand, it is a way of art and culture marketing. “Some western countries have increased audience participation in the art market so that art organizations to better respond to market forces and develop strategic plans not only need stable and diversified sources of funding but also improve customer satisfaction and attract resources.”(Wiid,2018) , So some art galleries use classic media images to present classic works of art, because this is the simplest model of copying, without the need for additional original costs. And since the works of the Renaissance have a high artistic level, the people Can accept and appreciate, so works of this period are often chosen as the material of the exhibition. Another effect of the Renaissance on contemporary art is that artists will extract the color elements and character elements of the Renaissance painting and integrate them into their works, for example, the works of Hiroshi Mori from Japan. It has a certain artistic value “This is a bold innovation, that is, it will become a new trend”. (Gao,2017). However, fundamentally it is only the fusion of the artistic styles of the two eras. What the artworks need most is the spirit displayed in the interior. The artists use the artworks to communicate their inner feelings instead of copying the elements of the original artwork, however, there is no spiritual transfer. So this will harm modern art, that is, it will slow down Art innovation.

The humanistic artistic style of the Renaissance promoted the change of installation art from ornamental to participatory. The core idea of the Renaissance is humanism, and its artistic style emphasizes the authenticity of characters in the painting and its role. However, the traditional installation art base on sculpture, comprehensive material construction, and other large ornamental art. However, today, the installation art, which is influenced by the Renaissance puts the people in the core. It means that the current installation art pays more attention to the perception of visitors and the participation of visitors. The viewer can participate in the work and become part of the work. Installation artworks are created not only it can process the story of the works but it may combine the participatory and those visitors will engage with these artworks and make a response (Louisemarie et al,2019). What makes installation art different from other art forms (oil painting, sculpture, carve) is the participation of people. the visitors become a part of the artwork. It means that these artworks cannot be displayed completely if without a visitor. Therefore, visitors play an important role in installation art as well as the installation of art respect and affirm the value of human beings. It is the performance of the public identity from the viewer to the participator as well as a high-level way of using the Renaissance art style.

The artistic concept of the Renaissance-inspired the thinking of contemporary installation art on humanistic, which is the highest level of use artistic style of the Renaissance. Humanism is the core idea of the Renaissance, which means respecting human consciousness and being human-centered. This idea leads to the birth of interactive design. Luyten pointed out that the aesthetic core of interactive installation art is the behavior of the recipient. The behavior of the recipient gives a sense of existence and artistic presence of the interactive installation art. (Luyten,2018). Therefore, art is based on human life, and art is also to serve human beings. When art and human life is well combined, the greatest value of art is revealed. In the past, art was only used for viewing, and it was an add-on for people to improve their own artistic culture. Now interaction design integrates into the lives of the people and brings convenience to people’s lives. In the analysis of the interaction design report from 1979 to 2107, Byungjooy observes that increasing enterprises use interactive design to make visual report analysis as well as increasing social organizations use interactive design to provide humanistic care for the public.(Byunngjoo.et al.,2019) Hence the emergence of interactive design has come closer to the distance between the people and art. However, too much emphasis on the practicality of design to display its artistry, therefore this question is still waiting to be solved, how can the perfect combination of artistic sense and practicality.

The Renaissance art style and main idea are widely used in contemporary installation art. However, there are still have some issues such as lacking the innovation of art, pay too much to the practicability of the work and ignore their artistry. We can’t deny that the artistic style and spirit of the Renaissance bring inspiration to contemporary art, for example, art serves humanity. Most importantly, In today’s society, there are still many artists who insist on artistic innovation and create artworks that combine art and life. Art is not an independent individual and is no far from human life. it comes from life and is higher than life.

References

• Gao, Z. (no date) ‘Research on the application of traditional art style in modern art design’, Boletin Tecnico/Technical Bulletin, 55(11), pp. 151–156. Available at: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edselc&AN=edselc.2-52.0-(Accessed: 4 August 2019).
• Ji Yoon Jang, Byeongwon Ha and Byungjoo Lee (2019) ‘Survey and Analysis of Interactive Art Documentation, 1979–2017’, (3), p. 284. Available at: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edspmu&AN=edspmu.S153092821930026X&site=eds-live (Accessed: 5 August 2019).
• Louisemarie Combrink & Nicholas P.L. Allen 2019, ‘Character (and absence) as a narrative key in installation art’, Literator, no. 1, p.el. Available at: <http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edsdoj&AN=edsdoj.303ad7dc5a2f470e936ab38c682433fb&site=eds-live>.(Accessed: 4 August 2019).
• Luyten, T. et al. (2018) ‘How nursing home residents with dementia respond to the interactive art installation “VENSTER”: a pilot study’, Disability & Rehabilitation: Assistive Technology, 13(1), pp. 87–94. doi: 10.1080/17483107.2017.1290701. (Accessed: 4 August 2019).
• Popoviciu, L. (2014) ‘Between taste and historiography : writing about early Renaissance works of art in Venice and Florence (1550-1800)’. Available at: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edsble&AN=edsble.683482&site=eds-live (Accessed: 4 August 2019).
• Wenxia Kong (2017) ‘Digital media art design based on human-computer interaction technology in the background of big data’, Revista de la Facultad de Ingenieria, 32(14), pp. 485–489. Available at: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=asx&AN=127080269&site=eds-live (Accessed: 4 August 2019).
• Wiid, R. and Mora, A. P. (2018) ‘Arts marketing framework: The arts organisation as a hub for participation’, Journal of Public Affairs (14723891), 18(2), p. 1. doi: 10.1002/pa.1657. (Accessed: 4 August 2019).