Art is an umbrella term that encompasses a wide diversity of formats in which men and women work to create items of beauty


Art & Today. Art is an umbrella term that encompasses a wide diversity of formats in which men and women work to create items of beauty that range from the simple to the complex and are in an continual state of evolving discovery as new techniques and mediums for artistic expression are developed with each new generation of artists. "Art & Today" is a massive, coffee-table compendium of contemporary artworks; the one common aspect of the 400 emerging artists surveyed is that they all engage in a postmodern willingness to transcend traditional boundaries. Full-color illustrations on almost every page introduce the reader to a vast variety of artistic creations, from painting to sculpture to photography and much more, while extensive essays offer insights into the backgrounds, themes, and messages of the individual artists. Organized around a set of sixteen themes ranging from "Art & Popular Culture" to "Art & Nature and Technology" to "Art & Globalism" and "Art & Politics", Art & Today lives up to its self-appointed Herculean labor of surveying what today's art as a whole has to say about humans and the world we live in. Highly recommended especially for public library and art book collections.