Mixed Media - General

Mixed media art combines distinct mediums including painting, sculpture, and drawing in order to create a new composition that eludes straightforward categorization. Multi- or mixed media art can also utilize elements from other arts such as literature, drama, or dance in creating an artwork, or incorporate three-dimensional objects as an assemblage.

The concept of mixed media art arose with the advent of modernism in the early part of the 20th century as distinctions between traditional mediums became more porous. Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque were two of the most famous early practitioners of mixed media art, incorporating elements of collage into their compositions.

Artists of the post-modern era expanded the possibilities of mixed media art by creating works that effectively eradicated the classical distinctions between art forms. Robert Rauschenberg’s seminal work "Monogram," for example, combined found objects that included a stuffed goat, a tire, and fragments of wood board with paint, proposing a radically new vision of modern art. Andy Warhol was also a proponent of mixed media art, applying acrylic and oil paints to his silk screens in order to lend a painterly touch to his printed works which relied on the modern technologies of mass production.