OBJECTIVES
OF: What Is Art For?
- Consider the origins of art
- Explore a brief history of Western Art
- Examine multiple perspectives for evaluating art
ORIGINAL POST (October 16,2013)
A Palaeoanthropsychobiological Critique
The article, “What Is Art For?” Does a great job at re-describing the meaning and value behind the word “Art.” It brings art back to early stages of human development and compares our current basic societal view of art to a more complex and holistic approach. Although this approach seems wholesome and just, I do have a couple thoughts that challenge Dissanayake writings. Dissanayake explains that “Although behavior made special need not be aesthetic or artistic, when one exerts control, takes pains, and uses care and contrivance to one’s best the result is usually called artistic or aesthetic”(23) I think this definition can be applied to almost everything that we consider to be art.
However I do question what we consider a picture or image taken from a camera or online as, being art. Is it the act of taking a photo in a specific place and time that gives the definition of art? Or is it the subjects or images the photo is composed of that gives it a definition of art? For example, if someone were to take a picture of an Italian sports car with a backdrop of a beautiful sunset, would the car get the appreciation of art because of the time, care, and pain spent building it? Or would the fact that the photographer took time to capture that specific image of the car and sunset be the reason of credible artistic value. Also keeping in mind that an Italian sports car alone to most viewers would probably be considered a work of art and craftsmanship. I don’t know if this picture’s association with being artistic could be granted to both aspects, but then again how does a simple picture of a beach seem more beautiful and artistic. Maybe there are more emotional ties to art than we think. The fact that we can appreciate a picture that simply captures a piece of nature in time makes me think that art is in a way almost impossible to define further than biological human interests and satisfactions.
REFLECTION
Early art forms are what staged the art we see today. Not only that it also staged how we perceive art and evaluate it. This post I created explains how western art and culture has founded a solid definition of the word art. There is obviously lines that us as a society must draw for what can pass as art. Otherwise we would be seeing stick figures drawn on lined paper being sold in art galleries. There is a par that must be met and I think this unit helped define this requirement. When someone “exerts control, takes pains, and uses care and contrivance to one’s best the result is usually called artistic or aesthetic”(Dissanayake 23). This aspect alone doesn’t cover all artwork but when I reflect on many pieces of art this quote does apply. I think it creates a solid perspective for evaluating art because it is easy to apply to many genres of art, even food as art.
This unit about “What Is Art For?” sparked me to evaluate aspects of art as well. There was something I had always been curious about so I posted to my site a phenomenon that I hoped others had insight on. I was curious that when looking at a picture what does a viewer give the credit of art to. ‘Is it the act of taking a photo in a specific place and time that gives the definition of art? Or is it the subjects or images the photo is composed of that gives it a definition of art?’ I used a picture of a sports car in a sunset, and also compared this to a picture of a beautiful ocean landscape to illustrate my question about photographic credibility. The picture of a cave painting used above was also added to give an example of an early art form. My aspect of evaluating pictures of art shows an understanding of unit concepts and creates a greater understanding for myself because life applicable examples were used.
IN THE FUTURE
I expect myself to withhold art to higher standards the more I learn about it. With this also comes a respect and willingness to research what constitutes an amazing piece of art, instead of just basing judgements on aesthetic appeal. I hope by the end of this course I will have a stronger understanding of art and will use this understanding to continue learning about art in detail. Getting a background knowledge of knowing how to evaluate art actually opens new ideas for me as an aspiring artist.