Jul
2014
Post 01: What is art for?
Recently, I read the article, “What is art for? By Dissanayake, E”; it makes me to think deeply about art. Before I read the article, I think what is most of people think that is beautiful is art. Art is such an abstractive work and every single people have various definitions.
Dissanayake mentioned that “Living in another culture also makes you realize that different as other people’s beliefs may be from one’s own, we are all still recognizably people – and so you wonder what is universal”. (p. 16). This reminds me of the management class’ activity, the professor let us to draw a world map, just an outline of the world. Surprisingly, there are two different results. American student’s map is Europe locate in the map’s center and Asian student’s map is China locate in the map’s center as well as unite state is on the right side. People know and recognize something from their point of view and their view is affected by their culture, life and belief. Sometime when people take something for granted, the other people might disagree with it. That makes me wondering that, for art, how the people have almost the same aesthetic value toward art. I don’t mean every art but some of it. Like the Mona Lisa’s smile, people from different race and gender also consider the smile is attractive and that is art. How the people can achieve the consistency? What is the universal art and beauty?
In the video, “How Can Art Be Considered A Survival Trait?” Denis Dutton stated that people’s aesthetic value is come from natural instincts. “it’s deep in our minds, it’s a gift handed down from the intelligent skills and rich emotional lives of our most ancient ancestors.”(Denis Dutton, 2010) In Denis’s view, this might be the answer for how people achieve the consistency of beauty. As of me, I think beauty is the synonym of art. The original of art is beauty. People get the education; interact with other people and natural world that is the process of finding the beauty and art. When most of the people think this is beauty, so the beauty eventually becomes art.
Work Cites
3 Comments on Post 01: What is art for?
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xiaoxue@uoregon.edu
July 25, 2014 at 3:59 am (11 years ago)Simin Chen uses Dissanayake’s words to explain the art is different in viewers’ eyes based on their cultural, environmental differences. The example in this post explained people who come from different area in this world would see the world map in different ways. This is understandable, however, people which are more international may see the world map in an other point of view. When Simin related this example to the fact that most people like the same art, such as “Mona Lisa’s smile”, it becomes hard for me to follow. In fact, most people never see this painting and they never really think about if they love it or not. The fact is most people believe the value of this painting: it is one of the best work of Leonardo da Vinci and he allocated big amount of time in order to complete this artwork. He translated the image in his imagination through the strokes of his brush. People love this artwork because they appreciate this great artist. Also, people love it because it cannot be reproduced. People don’t love the same art, they love fine arts, which are famous, valuable and cannot be reproduced.They have been created primarily for intellectual purposes and judged for its beauty and meaningfulness, specifically, painting, sculpture, and architecture(Rhode). In this case, people with different culture could like same art, however, art is not only includes the fine arts, there are many more type of arts and some of them are totally defined by people’s own preferences.
Work Cites
Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI – MFA in Ceramics, Glass, Jewelry + Metalsmithing, Painting, Photography, Printmaking, Sculpture, Textiles; BFA in Film/Animation/Video, Illustration.
siminc@uoregon.edu
July 27, 2014 at 7:32 pm (11 years ago)Thank you for your comments. There are lots of different forms about art, the language, the painting, the dancing, etc. In painting range speaking, indeed, some people appreciate the Mona Lisa’s smile might just because of Leonardo da Vinci’s fame. However, there are still so many people like his talent, and his talent represent in his work, like painting, sculpture and invention. He shows his talent and thoughts through the excellent works and makes people respect and appreciate him. Without the work he did, not one can know him. Other artists also through presenting their work let people know who they are. The artwork gets people’s acknowledging and love. What I try to discuss is how those people have similar view or emotion toward these famous artwork? Like Dissanayake state that “Disinterest implied that viewers could appreciate any art, even the artwork of eras or cultures far removed from their own, whether or not they understood the meaning the works had for the people who made and used them. In this sense, art was ‘universal.’”(p.18) This ideal reminds me that people appreciate the art come from their instinct and the education environment and living environment produce the personal instinct. I not mean that they like the same art but they also not find the famous art. They just use they instinct to appreciate the art first and then know the artist. There is still need many researches to study how people can get the consistency toward great art. That is also my doubt.
Citation:
Dissanayake, E. (1991). What is art for? In K. C. Caroll (Ed.). Keynote adresses 1991 (NAEA Convention), (pp.15-26). Reston, VA: National Art Education Association.
dongjoon@uoregon.edu
July 25, 2014 at 4:56 pm (11 years ago)That is right! Art is an abstract work that each person has different interpretations. As you suggested the example, each person has different points of views based on values. The art can be interpreted depending on one’s norms which have been developed over years. As you stated, people with different ethnicity see an art piece as a beauty but I disagree that the beauty is synonym of art. Art does not necessarily give a big impression of beauty. There are numbers of masterpieces that depict different emotions such as sad, depression, shocking and etc. We called those themes of works as art altogether because, the art delivers messages and evokes people to feel in a way of what the author tries to convey. According to Dissanayake, “but [art] is instead a fundamental human species characteristic that demands and deserves to be promoted and nourished. Art-like activities exist in all societies and all walks of life.” Likewise, the art is any form of activities that presents someone’s feeling thoughts or issues of current societies. Even though a piece of work does not give big impression to public, it can be promoted as an art in the future if the generation in the future considers the work as an art.