The history of art is a history of cultures mixing, styles rising, new horizons coming into view. Always changing, art responds to the fresh perspectives and insights available through cultural dialogue, and it takes up the latest technological developments to experiment in new and exciting ways.

The furthest limits of this experimentation make up the avant garde: the field of art that is pushing new boundaries by using new materials, finding new subject matter, or both.

As the world around us changes, so does the avant garde. Every generation of artists has their own lines to cross and discoveries to be made.

For instance, Andy Warhol led the avant garde of the 1960’s. In some ways he was a traditional social realist, trying to capture the essence of everyday life. But he did so using the techniques and processes of commercial art.

This gave people an entirely new appreciation for the way mass media, advertising, and product design were shaping their lives. He also helped cultivate an entire scene, using his star power to help others who were pushing the limits of art in their own ways. Warhol’s avant garde work continues to inspire artists to this day.

But just as the 60’s had their avant garde, so do we. And because of the nature of the field, this new wave is unique to our own times.

The New Age of Avant Garde
Today, our world is more interconnected than ever before. Not only are billions of people around the globe now in conversation through the internet, but our cultures are also more and more integrated into a globalized system. This allows artists from different cultures to interact like never before.

For the first time, there is truly a unified art world.

If you look at the size of art markets, we see a new balance of buyers and sellers. While the United Kingdom and United States are still the largest among many, China is consistently growing and showing itself as a center for art.

In this new globalized art world, an artist with a background from both cultures is well suited to speak to the challenges and realities of our time.

That’s why artists with roots in multiple cultures are driving the latest wave of the avant garde. Their voices help us understand the interchange of values and images that make up our connected world.

A great example of this new avant garde is the artist Yee Wong. Her work borrows from both Eastern and Western culture to create a truly one-of-a-kind vision — not to mention beautiful artwork. By recombining the signs and values of these two domains, she is able to escape the stereotypical and the mundane, giving us new perspectives we’ve never seen before.

As the next wave of the avant garde crashes through the art world, artists like Yee Wong will change the way we view our lives and give us new perspectives on creativity. This is the coming wave of the next avant garde.