TOPICS IN ART

Normally, artists deal with many different ideas, topics, and engage in a variety of conversations. This list includes artists whose work includes a huge range of topics, not just the topic listed next to their names.

Absence

Absence (usually uncountable, plural absences)

Artist Examples:

Appropriation

Artists


Alter

Artists

Andre Schulze

The Body

Artists


Beauty

Artists

Komar and Melamid

Collect

Artists

Lenka Clayton

Katie Rose Johnston 

Artist Examples:

Katie Rose Johnston 

Curiosity Clouds 

Confession

Artists

Maren Elmont

Connection

Artists


Craft

Artists

Ricey Wright

Comfort

Artists

Jared Steffensen

JooYoung Choi

Dreams

Artists

Noa Snir

Decontextualize

Artists

Sarah Stoddard

Deception

Artists

The Yes Men

Andrea Fraser

Miranda July

Distortion

Artists

Erwin Wurm

Leah Befferman

Mark England

The Environment

Displace

Artists


Documentary

Artists


Division

Artists


Fantasy

Artists

Casey Jex Smith

JooYoung Choi

Fake

Artists


The Forgotten

Artists

Greif

Artists

Myleka Bevens

Humor

Artists


The Insignificant

Artists

Harrell Fletcher

Uta Barth

Nina Katchadourian

Identity

Artists

Annelise Duque

Miranda July

Materiality

Artists


Mimicry

Artists

Bas Jan Ader

Thomas Demand

Vija Celmins

Mental Health

Artists

Molly Kent

Nature

Artists

Sara J Frantz

Portrait

Artists

Félix González-Torres 

Ann Hamilton

Martin Parr

Practice

Artists

Francis Alys

Process

Artists

Jackson Pollock

Preservation

Artists


Play

Artists

Steven Stallings

Greg Caldwell

Misaki Kawai

Quantity

Artists

Andreas Gursky

Zimoun

Quotidian

Artists

Koki Tanaka

Replication

Artists

Do Ho Suh

Reparation

Artists

Nina Katchadourian

Race

Artists

Julian Harper

Kerry James Marshall

Ruins

Artists


Routine

Artists

Andrea Zittel

Sophie Calle

Sublime

Artists

Spirituality

Artists

Time

Artist Examples:

William Lamson

Mineralogy

The Center For Land Use Interpretation, Wendover Utah

Felix Gonzalez-Torres

Untitled "Perfect Lovers" 1991

Hiroshi Sugimoto

"I'm a habitual self-interlocutor.  One evening while taking photographs at the American Museum of Natural History, I had a near-hallucinatory vision. My internal question-and-answer session leading up to this vision went something like this:  "Suppose you shoot a whole movie in a single frame? "  The answer: "You get a shining screen. "  Immediately I began experimenting in order to realize this vision. One afternoon I walked into a cheap cinema in the East Village with a large-format camera. As soon as the movie started, I fixed the shutter at a wide-open aperture. When the movie finished two hours later, I clicked the shutter closed. That evening I developed the film, and my vision exploded behind my eyes." - Hiroshi Sugimoto

More Art To Check Out:

Art Pieces with Clocks

Wander

Artists

Madeline Rupard

Research Topics/Themes Artists Explore

+Art


Art 21

The Art Assignment

https://www.booooooom.com/

Ignant.com

Contemporary Art Daily


Time:

Artists: Martin Puryear, Paul Pfeiffer, Vija Celmins, and Tim Hawkinson Robert adams, tim hawkinson


Grief:

Artists: Jenny Holzer, An my Lee


Translation:

Artists: Dwi Rianto, Isabella Martini, Sara Branco, Laura Opera, Barbra Machule, Mary Keramida (all people are part of the art 21 translation team)


The Sublime:

Artists: John Martin


Humor:

Artists: Eleanor Antin

Artists: https://art21.org/watch/art-in-the-twenty-first-century/s2/humor/


Alex de Corte 


Destruction:

Artists: El Anatsui, Abraham Cruzvillegas



Beauty:

Artists: Fred Willson, James Charles


Repetition:

Artists: Ellen Gallagher


Practice:

Artists: Bas Jan Ader, 


Memory:

Artists: Arthaus Musik, Susan Ruthonberg


Light:

Artists: Dan Flavin, Robert Adams, Olafur Eliasson, Robert Ryman, Michelangelo 


Nature:

Artists: Andy Goldsworthy, Mark Dion, 


Comfort:

Artists: Richard Tuttle, Allen McCollum, Dan Herschlein, 


Race:

Artists: Kevin Beasley, Jordan Casteel


Queer:

Artists: Zanele Muholi, Catherine Opie


Connection:

Artists:


Movement: 


Dance: Tony Orrico, Heather Hansen


Skateboarding: Jared Steffensen


Shoes: Kai 


Walking:


Location:

Artists: Mandy Darrington, Maya Lin, Zarouhie Abdalian 


Fiction:

Artists:joan jonas.


Fashion/Wearable Art: 

Artists: Andrea Zittel


Ethics:

Artists:


Failure:

Artists: Arturo Herrara 


Dreams:

Artists:Salvador Dalí

Hubbard/Birchler


Displacement: 

Artists: Dalila Sanabria


Culture:

Artists: Steven Stallings, Annelise Duque


Feminism:

Artists: Guerrilla Girls, Ida Applebroog


Rural:

Artists: Stephen Shore


Pretend: 

Artists: Andrea Fraser, The Yes Men


Politics: 

Artists: Rashod Taylor, Olga Sokal 


Mimic:

Artists: 


The Everyday: 

Artists: Nina Katchadourian


Identity:

Artists: Sophie Calle,