Artifact 2 What is Art
Objective
• Consider the origins of art
• Explore a brief history of Western Art
• Examine multiple perspectives for evaluating art
Original Post
Through the reading by Dissanayake, and the TED talk about a Darwinian theory about beauty, I have come to some realizations about what art really is and why it makes something appealing to us, or more commonly called beautiful. I enjoyed the ideas that the TED talk provided about why we think something is beautiful, and how things are beautiful to us when they remind us of the past that humans went through. So when we see a nice Savannah like landscape with tree’s, vegetation, life, and animals it is noticed in our evolved DNA that we used to look for these kinds of places and we today have strong feelings towards them. The fact that he states, “beauty comes from evolution”(Dutton) both intrigues me and scares me at the same time. It shows me that we value things from the past, and there is a rational reason why we are attracted to certain things. The part of this that scares me is that in the grand scheme of time humans are still so young, and if in this amount of time we perceive beauty as things we needed for like two and a half million years ago, couldn’t in the future things we perceive as beauty change to something as meaningless as some worthless piece of technology. If evolution dictated our beauty for now what will our conception of beauty turn to and become in the future when people will have completely different associations with living.
The fact that we have been creating art for so long during the existence of humans is also a very fascinating aspect of art. If our ancestors used to create art about things they desired, then the futures art should reflect this aspect as well. In Dissanayake’s writing it says, “art must be viewed as an inherent universal trait of the human species, as normal and natural as language, sex, sociability, aggression, or any of the other characteristics of human nature”(1). If this is true will the image of beauty change over time? I personally agree with the fact that we see beauty in any kind of skilled performance whether it be art or something else, and because of this there will be a certain talent based art and beauty, but at the same time what is considered beauty in the future could become completely different that what we know today.
Reflection
I felt like this piece best let me think back about the origins of art, letting me learn about why we think different things are art, and why certain things are believed to be beautiful. I learned how it is ingrained into our DNA to see certain fertile places and notice it to be beautiful because we want to live there. I had very little knowledge that in the past we people had so much art around them, and because of it art is still such a big part of our lives. When I found out why we think things are beautiful, it better let me understand myself, and how I determine what I perceive as art. It is interesting to know now that, “beauty comes from evolution”(Dutton). Since this is true art should change over time as we evolve more and more, and because of this there should be an ever growing conception of art.
Along with the fact that art comes from our past it can also be seen in many different forms. There are so many different ways to evaluate the art that we see. I personally do not enjoy a lot of types of art, while some more abstract art intrigues me more. Almost any kind of painting no matter how good is not a type of art that I enjoy, while more types of sculptures are exciting to me. Each and every person has slight differences in enjoyment from art, and this could be from how we evolved and our DNA. One of my favorite forms of art comes in the medium of spray paint. My favorite piece of spray paint I found on the internet, and later found it one day while in San Francisco. It is currently the background on my computer and a piece of art I really like. I included the picture above. Although some may find it destructive, or not even art but I think this is a really cool piece of art.
Future
In the future there should be so many more types of art, in all different types of forms and mediums. I am excited for the future of art, and what kinds of things will be a part of it. The more recent types of art that are just starting to be seen are very interesting to me and are more my kind or style, and I am excited to see all the new kinds of art that the future holds. Especially when I am older I feel like I will appreciate art more, as well as be more involved in the artistic community.