Dallas Museum of Art – Contemporary Art Collection
The theme of this collection was contemporary art of the last fifty years. A number of styles are portrayed, especially within the paintings, as it covers this genre. Some examples of this are Jackson Pollock's abstract expressionism to Jasper Johns neo-dadism as well as many other styles. (Dallas Museum of Art – Contemporary Art, n.d.)
The museum divides its collection among a number of different types of exhibits. There are a number of paintings, though all from different artistic styles. There are also a number of exhibits that fall into the sculpture category. The sculpture varies from the Doug Aitken's these restless minds as a form of video presentation to a more the more static sculptures of Matthew Barney with his The Cloud Club and Chris Burden with All the Submarines of the United States of America. (Dallas Museum of Art – Contemporary Art, n.d.)
With the wide variety of art within this collection through multiple genres it represents a number of social values and belief systems. Probably the most famous work is Cathedral by Jackson Pollock. In the post WWII time frame this art, especially Pollock's, was dark as compared to previous genres. This was probably representative of the time as the world was coming out of a very dark period of horrible crimes against humanity as well as a very bloody war. Secondarily, the art form had a definite subconscious aspect as the psychological undertones of Sigmund Freud's theories start making it more into the mainstream (Jackson Pollock, n.d., para 2). Secondarily, there is also a nihilistic aspect to this art rejecting all set forms (Abstract Expression, n.d., para 3). While heavily influenced by postmodern thought this also reflected the disillusionment of society in a post-depression and post-WWII world. Finally, with abstract expressionism being a significant departure from major artist genres it was a representation of society rethinking what they had taken for granted before. Quite possibly once again stemming from the loss of optimism and sense that people are generally good.
References
Abstract Expression. Retrieved on July 2, 2005 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abstract_expressionism
Dallas Museum of Art – Contemporary Art. Retrieved on July 2, 2005 from http://www.dallasmuseumofart.org/stellent/idcplg?IdcService=SS_GET_PAGE&nodeId=1562&ssSourceNodeId=1379
Jackson Pollock. Retrieved on July 2, 2005 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackson_Pollock