Contemporary art is art produced at this present point in time or art produced since World War II. The definition of the word contemporary would support the first view, but museums of contemporary art commonly define their collections as consisting of art produced since World War II.

Throughout the 20th century and into the 21st century, with the advent of Modern and Postmodern art forms, distinctions between what is generally regarded as the fine arts and the low arts have started to fade, as contemporary high art continues to challenge these concepts by mixing with popular culture.

Contemporary art is exhibited by commercial contemporary art galleries, private collectors, art auctions, corporations, publicly funded arts organizations, contemporary art museums or by artists themselves in artist-run spaces. Contemporary artists are supported by grants, awards and prizes as well as by direct sales of their work.

There are close relationships between publicly funded contemporary art organisations and the commercial sector. For instance, in Britain a handful of dealers represent the artists featured in leading publicly funded contemporary art museums.

John Anthony Baldessari (born June 17, 1931, National City, California) is an American conceptual artist known for his work featuring found photography and appropriated images. He lives and works in Santa Monica and Venice, California

Initially a painter, Baldessari began to incorporate texts and photography into his canvases in the mid 1960s. From 1970 he worked in printmaking, film, video, installation, sculpture and photography. He has created thousands of works that demonstrate—and, in many cases, combine—the narrative potential of images and the associative power of language within the boundaries of the work of art. His art has been featured in more than 200 solo exhibitions in the U.S. and Europe. His work has had a huge influence on Cindy Sherman, David Salle, and Barbara Kruger among others.

Noah Becker is a painter, art writer and publisher. Becker is also a jazz saxophonist. He has exhibited his paintings in the Vancouver Art Gallery group exhibition How Soon is Now in 2009

Becker is the founder and editor-in-chief of Whitehot Magazine of Contemporary Art, an online art magazine. He is also a contributing writer for Art in America Magazine, Canadian Art Magazine and the Huffington Post.

In 2009 Becker was one of 15 artists nominated for the RBC (Royal Bank of Canada) Painting Prize in 2009. This exhibition toured Becker's painting to Musée D'Art Contemporain De Montréal and the Power Plant in Toronto.

Becker has exhibited in Switzerland, New York, and Miami at NADA Art Fair.

Becker's first Jazz CD "Where We Are" features guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel. Becker's recent recordings as a sideman have been with Canadian hip hop artist Moka Only.

Ben Quilty (born 1973 in Sydney) is an Australian artist who won the 2011 Archibald Prize.

Quilty grew up in Kenthurst in Sydney's north-west. He lives and works in Robertson, New South Wales. He is a graduate of the Sydney College of the Arts at the University of Sydney.^{[citation needed]} Quilty also graduated from the University of Western Sydney with a Bachelor's degree in Visual Communication

A multiple finalist, Quilty won the Archibald Prize in 2011 for his portrait of Australian artist Margaret Olley. It was his seventh entry to the prize.

In 2009, he won the Doug Moran National Portrait Prize, Australia's most lucrative portrait prize, for a painting of Australian musician Jimmy Barnes. His painting Dead (Over the Hills and Far Away) won the National Artists Self Portrait prize in 2007.

Quilty was awarded a Brett Whiteley Travelling Art Scholarship in 2002.

From 11 October until 3 November 2011, Quilty was attached to the Australian Defence Force (ADF) observing their activities in Kabul, Kandahar and Tarin Kowt. His task was to record and interpret the experiences of Australian service personnel who are deployed as part of Operation Slipper. After his return, Quilty spent six months producing work for the Australian War Memorial's National Collection. Such work is in the tradition of war artists that began in World War I with artists Arthur Streeton, George Lambert and Frederick McCubbin.