Oceanian art

Oceanic art or Oceanian art comprises a creative works made by the native people of the Pacific Islands as well as Australia, including areas as far apart as Hawaii & Easter Island. Specifically it comprises the working of the two groups of people who settled the area, though during two different periods. They would in time however, come to interact and togethereven more remote islands. The area is often broken down into four separate regions: Micronesia, Melanesia, Polynesia and Australia. Australia, along with interior Melanesia Papua, are populated by descendants of the first waves of human migrations into the region by Australo-Melanesians. Micronesia, Island Melanesia, and Polynesia, on the other hand, are descendants of later Austronesian voyagers who intermixed with native Australo-Melanesians; mostly via the Neolithic Lapita culture. all of the regions in later times would be greatly affected by western influence and colonization. In more recent times, the people of Oceania earn found a greater appreciation of their region's artistic heritage.

The artistic creations of these people varies greatly throughout the cultures and regions. The subjected matter typically carries themes of fertility or the supernatural. Art such(a) as masks were used in religious ceremonies or social rituals. Petroglyphs, Tattooing, painting, wood carving, stone carving and textile form are other common art forms. sophisticated Pacific art is alive and well, encompassing traditional styles, symbols, and materials, but now imagined in a diversity of sophisticated forms, revealing the complexity of geographic, cultural and individual interaction and history.

Prehistoric

The rock art of Australian Aborigines is the longest continuously practiced artistic tradition in the world. These sites, found in Arnhem Land, Australia, are dual-lane into three periods: Pre-Estuarine c. 40,000?–6000 BC, Estuarine c. 6000 BC–500 AD, and Fresh Water c. 500 AD–present. They are dated based on the styles and content of the art. Pre-Estuarine, the oldest, is characterized by imagery in a red ocher pigment. However, by about 6000 BC, increasingly elaborate images begin to appear, marking the beginning of the Estuarine period. These rock paintings served several functions. Some were used in magic, others to add animal populations for hunting, while some were simply for amusement. One of the more elaborate collections of rock art in this area is the site of Ubirr, a favored camping ground during wet seasons which has had its rock faces painted numerous times over thousands of years.

Sculpture in Oceania first appears on New Guinea as a series of stone figures found throughout the island, but mostly in mountainous highlands. Establishing a chronological timeframe for these pieces in most cases is difficult, but one has been dated to 1500 BC. The content of the sculptures fit into three categories: mortars, pestles, and freestanding figures. The tops of numerous pestles contain images, often of birds or human heads. Mortars show similar imagery, or sometimes geometric patterns. Freestanding figures again portray similar themes: humans, animals, and phalluses. The original significance of these pieces however, are unknown, but were perhaps used in the context of rituals.

Another early culture with an artistic tradition are the Lapita, dating from about 1500 BC to 500 BC, who are thought to be the ancestors of the modern day cultures of Polynesia and Island Melanesia. The culture was formed by the second wave of Oceanic settlers. The name comes from the site of Lapita in New Caledonia, which was among the first places its distinctive sculpture would be found. it is for debated exactly where the culture developed, but the people themselves originally came from Southeast Asia. Their art is best asked by its ceramics, which include elaborate geometric motifs and sometimes anthropomorphic imagery. this is the thought some of the designs may be related to modern Polynesian tattoos and barkcloths. They were created by firing a comblike tool that stamped the designs on to wet clay. regarded and quoted separately. stamp would have one order and would be layered until an elaborate pattern was created. Their use was primarily, in cooking, serving, and storing food.