A Survey of “Nature” Conception in Contemporary American and European Art

Abstract

Nature and belief. The nature revenges. The nature is mighty. The nature is beautiful. The feeble nature needs preservation. These are familiar discourses often heard in the present time. In Fine Arts, we can see subjects relating to a variety of natural aspects. Artists who work on the subject of nature are recognized as having social responsibility and goodwill. But, what does the “nature” mean in art process? It is not easy to answer this question. The nature of crating art is as flexible and various as the definition of the “nature”. Artists are inspired by numerous sources of nature ranging from advanced science for example the discovery of DNA to thousand years old believes. The artists create diminutive artworks that need to be visualized through a microscope, as well as gigantic artwork being like a landscape that can hold several thousand people. This article is an attempt to explore concepts relating to the nature, to focus on contemporary art in the realm of Europe and the United States, and to present the tendency of this subject from 1960s until now.