Plastic Arts

We explain what plastic arts are and what types exist. Also, its characteristics and some representative examples.

What are the plastic arts?

The plastic arts are the artistic practices in which materials and elements that can be molded are used and that are combined or transformed to create a work in physical space. These elements, understood as plastic resources, are the raw material of the artist's work. Some plastic arts are: painting, sculpture, drawing, architecture, engraving, ceramics, collage, goldsmithing and mural painting. Plastic arts are a type of visual arts.

The plastic arts were, along with music and the performing arts, the first forms of human expression: there are records of materials modified for aesthetic purposes by the first hominids almost one hundred thousand years ago and they have been the artistic expressions most exhibited in museums throughout history.

As a form of expression and communication of the beliefs, values ​​and history of humans of all times, the plastic arts played a fundamental role in the flourishing and expansion of all cultures and civilizations in social, political and religious terms.

It is very common for artists to dedicate themselves to various plastic disciplines at the same time. Although each of the plastic arts has different procedures, methods and techniques, all share principles and aspects such as working with form texture, color and movement.

• See also: Fine arts

History of the plastic arts

The notion of plastic arts comes from ancient Greek plastikoswhich refers to the art of “modeling” or shaping something from a material. During the 19th century this notion was applied to all arts that had an effect on matter, and in the 20th century it was controversial and reformulated several times, thanks to the practices and concepts introduced by the avant-garde and new art forms.

Today the term plastic arts incorporates proposals such as graffiti various forms of street art (urban art), the ready-made (“found object”: an ordinary object that is presented as a work of art) and other three-dimensional expressions.

Types of plastic arts

The plastic arts are mainly classified as drawing, painting, sculpture, metalwork, engraving and ceramics.

1. Drawing

The drawing is the act of creating images or representing ideas and shapes through strokes on a surface. It is probably the oldest and primary form of expression of our species and has accompanied us for thousands of years.

Today there is an innumerable variety of drawing tools and techniques (pastel, colored pencil, ink, graphite, charcoal), expanded by the offer of technological means such as digital pencils, augmented reality or graphic tablets.

However, there are materials that have not changed over the centuries, such as charcoal, which consists of a charred piece of wood that leaves the mark of its stroke or black ink, produced from the combustion of different mixed materials. with water.

• Drawing

2. Painting

Painting is the discipline that uses substances or pigments obtained naturally or through chemical methods to apply colors or chromatic effects on a surface. In the event that this surface is a wall, it is called wall paintings or simply murals.

This application It can be done directly with your hands or by using brushes, sprays and a wide variety of procedures such as collage (adhesion of cut images on a surface). In this sense, contemporary art usually values ​​technical experimentation more than academic perfection.

• Painting

3. Sculpture

Sculpture is, along with painting and drawing, one of the oldest human expressions. Use the hands of the artist as well as various molding, polishing, cutting tools and a wide variety of techniques, materials and procedures (wood carving, stone carving, assembly, modeling) to shape three-dimensional pieces of any scale.

• Sculpture

4. Architecture

Architecture is a discipline that combines artistic vision with technical elements with the objective of projecting, designing and constructing homes, buildings and urban spaces that can satisfy human needs in a functional, aesthetic and sustainable way.

• Architecture

5. Goldsmithing

Goldsmithing is elaboration of artistic pieces through the manipulation and melting of metals particularly precious metals, such as gold or silver. It uses a wide variety of techniques, ancient and traditional such as lost wax casting, embossing, hammering, granulating and filigree, or more recent ones such as electroforming and laser.

6. Engraving

The engraving is a ancient technique that consists of transferring to a support, by means of pressure, an image created in another resistant material such as stone, wood, metal, or linoleum. In this way it is possible to produce multiple identical copies of the original image, which are called “engravings”.

Engravings are usually numbered to control their provenance and originality, as well as to identify the number of copies of an edition and the order in which they were printed. Thus, for example, if the inscription 3/20 appears on the engraving, it means that it is the third copy of an edition of 20 engravings.

Other inscriptions may accompany the numbering, such as P/A (artist's proof). In this case, it indicates that this print is not part of the numbered edition and is, therefore, unique.

7. Ceramics

Ceramics are the ancient art of modeling objects in clay paste (a sandy material of mineral origin) and then subject them to temperatures above 900 degrees, in order to harden them.

Ceramics have been fundamental in the development of civilizations. Through this technique, over millennia, utilitarian and artistic objects have been created that have accompanied everything from the simplest tasks of daily life to the most complex cultural expressions of humanity.

It is a living art that constantly evolves: Today, contemporary artists continue to experiment with ceramics to expand the limits of this discipline.

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References

• Gombrich, E. H. (2016). The story of art. Phaidon Press.
• Hauser, A. (2015). Social history of art. Routledge.