Contemporary art refers to the art that has been and still continues to be created during our lifetime. Contemporary form of art is quite different from Modern art, which was art created by the Impressionists from around 1880 until the 1970s. However, there is some overlapping in terms of years when it comes to Modern art and the art of today. But still, both forms of art are considered to be separate, and each occupies its own space in the history of art.

On the other hand, art that was created from the 1970s until present time is labeled as contemporary. The reason that 1970 is used as the cutoff time for the two start forms is because terms like Postmodern and Postmodernism became popular around that time. Also, the 1970s was the last time when the last easily classifiable artistic movements occurred. Basically we can say that contemporary artists work on art movements that cannot be classified as the number of artists in any movement is very few to be actually labeled as a movement.

However, it must also be added that when it comes to art, any emerging movement is very difficult to classify. Also, the art of today is considered to be more socially conscious compared to any era in the past. In the last 40 years, the art that has been created has been connected to some issue. In fact, artists have used their artwork to raise awareness about major issues like multiculturalism, globalization, AIDS, bio-engineering and feminism.