Contemporary, home accessories and household goods
The institutions of contemporary art
Contemporary art is exhibited by commercial contemporary art galleries, private collectors, corporations, publicly funded arts organizations, contemporary art museums or by artists themselves in artist-run spaces. Contemporary artists are supported by grants, awards and prizes as well as by direct sales of their work.
There are close relationships between publicly funded contemporary art organisations and the commercial sector. For instance, in Britain a handful of dealers represent the artists featured in leading publicly funded contemporary art museums.
Individual collectors can wield considerable influence. Charles Saatchi has dominated the contemporary art market in Britain since the 1980s; the subtitle of the 1999 book Young British Artists: The Saatchi Decade uses of the name of the private collector to define an entire decade of contemporary art production.
Corporations have attempted to integrate themselves into the contemporary art world: exhibiting contemporary art within their premises, organising and sponsoring contemporary art awards and building up extensive collections of corporate art.
The institutions of art have been criticised for regulating what is designated as contemporary art. Outsider art, for instance, is literally contemporary art, in that it is produced in the present day. However, it is not considered so because the artists are self-taught and are assumed to be working outside of an art historical context. Craft activities, such as textile design, are also excluded from the realm of contemporary art, despite large audiences for exhibitions. Attention is drawn to the way that craft objects must subscribe to particular values in order to be admitted. "A ceramic object that is intended as a subversive comment on the nature of beauty is more likely to fit the definition of contemporary art than one that is simply beautiful."
At any one time a particular place or group of artists can have a strong influence on globally produced contemporary art; for instance New York artists in the 1980s
Decorative Arts
The decorative arts is a traditional term for a number of arts and crafts for the making of ornamental and functional works in a great range of materials including ceramic, wood, glass, metal, textiles and many others. The field includes ceramics, glassware, furniture, furnishings, interior design, but not usually architecture. The decorative arts are often categorized in opposition to the "fine arts", namely, painting, drawing, photography, and large-scale sculpture, which generally have no function other than to be looked at. Some distinguish between decorative and fine art based on functionality, intended purpose, importance, status as a unique creation, or single-artist production. Decorative arts, or furnishings, may be fixed (for example, wallpaper), or moveable (for example, lamps). Applied art includes the decorative arts but also graphic design and other categories, such as industrial design, which may overlap with decorative art. In general the term "decorative arts" is not much used of contemporary work, which tends to be called design instead. In art history the term minor arts is often used for the decorative arts.
Household Goods
Household goods are goods and products used within households. They are the tangible and movable personal property placed in the living rooms, dining rooms, kitchens, family rooms, great rooms, bedrooms, bathrooms, recreation rooms, hallways, attics, and basements and other rooms of a house.
Examples of household goods include air conditioners, baby items, baking dishes, beds/bedframes, blankets, bedding, linens, towels, blenders, mixers, bookcases, books, bureaus, dressers, wardrobes, cabinets, can openers, chairs, clothes dryers, coffee makers, computers, cooking utensils, couches, sofas, loveseats, sectionals, sofa beds, curtains, curtain rods, drapes, decorative items, desks, dishes, dishwashers, entertainment centers, fans, freezers, (drinking) glasses, hand tools, hutches, irons and ironing boards, lamps, lawn chairs, (table) linens, love seats, mattresses, (home) medical equipment, microwave ovens, mirrors, pillows, pots and pans, refrigerators, rugs, sewing machines and notions, silverware (flatware), sheets, sofas, love seats, sectionals, sofa beds/futons, space heaters, stereos and radios, tables toasters and toaster ovens, tools, towels, toys, televisions, vacuum cleaners, and washer/dryers.