Much of the formats for commercial artwork we see today have had a great deal of background in this movement of visual art, allowing us to understand on a fundamental level what the message is that the work is trying to convey, and a large amount of the signs and signals we find today relies heavily upon these ideals to translate a universal meaning to the general populace. We can easily see the progression of minimalism in these examples of the world over, and it almost as ingrained into our society now as much as we care to see.

A minimalist painting will typically use a very limited amount of colors and have a very simplistic geometric design. Minimalism in sculpture, on the other hand, is much more concerned with the materials used. Many people believe that minimalism in generally is about geometric shapes, but this interpretation depends widely on the branch of art as well as the interpreter.

But the simplest way to describe minimalism is that the less that is in the painting or work of art, the better it is. Minimalism is all about drawing attention to the few objects and colors of the composition. In this way minimalism shows us that less is better, for the eye is not drawn away by this of that filler or extra objects.

Minimalism is about starting with nothing and then carefully applying the few objects and colors that will define the piece as a whole. Minimalism is still one of the major parts of contemporary art, but it is used I conjunction with other styles and flairs from other art movements to form new types of minimalism.