Think about a social issue that concerns you the most. Discuss the issue and make a drawing that addresses this social issue. Make use of various line types and visual elements. Describe how you have used various elements in your drawing. Take a picture of your drawing and insert it with your response. Responses should fully articulate the social issue that inspired the drawing and explain specifically how the drawing addresses that issue and what it has to say about it. Discuss the choice of drawing media, the types of marks and lines used, and use of color in the context of the social issue. Explain how you used the elements of art and principles of design in the drawing to convey your message.

publication, making it an incredibly dynamic field of study. Many important topics have been resonating in the new century and inspiring new thinking and scholarly debate, such as the surge of bio art in response to scientific research in the life sciences, and the critical theory known as relational aesthetics that developed in response to an increase in art that invites viewers’ participation and interaction. Other topics that were much-discussed in the late 20th century remain vital for the analysis of 21st-century art and visual culture, including semiotics, post-modernism, and feminism.

Art of the 21st century emerges from a vast variety of materials and means. These include the latest electronic technologies, such as digital imaging and the internet; d influence.

Essay by Jean Robertson, Chancellor’s Professor of Art History, Herron School of Art and Design, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis

This content was first developed for Oxford Art Online and appears courtesy of Oxford University Press. Visit to learn more about contemporary art and see a list of significant 21st-century artists.

b energy transmission, d energy distribution, and e energy education