Topic: What is Art?
Unit Objectives:
-Considering the origins of art
-Examining multiple perspectives on art
-Brief history on types of art
Artifact: Essay Assignment
1. The term, paleoanthropsychobiological, was coined by author Ellen Dissanayake in an attempt to describe what art is. When broken up, the word self describes itself. Paleo-, meaning that art incorporates all of human history with no limit to its focus. Anthro-, which means that art embodies all human societies and cultures. Psycho- refers to what is put into art and what comes out of it; the emotional need for art and its effects on the mind. Bio- suggests that art is a natural part of life, or as the author puts it “a universal trait of the human species” (Dissanayake, 15).
2. The phrase “making special” refers to the individual intentions behind works of art. For art to be special, it impacts people in a significant and unique manner. In relation to human survival, humans are drawn to what they view as special because they like the feelings it gives them. This refers to both the artists and the viewers, because artists do what makes them feel special for a living, while viewers gaze on the artists work.
3. Three periods that Dissanayake refered to in this reading included the renaissance, abstract expressionism period, and post modernism period. The renaissance period took place during the 18th century and is looked on today as the focal point of modernity. Artists reflected the world surrounding them in their art. In the abstract expressionism period, or the mid-twentieth century, it seems as though more complex art came about. Dissanayake stated that due to the complex nature of the works of art, the value behind them became less apparent. She explained that as a result, “appreciating art became more than ever an elite activity…” (Dissanayake, 18). The post modernism period was where interpretation was more accepted in understanding and appreciating art. The author stated that “any ‘truth’ or ‘reality’ is only a point of view” (Dissanayake, 19), meaning that there was no right answer when appreciating art. While the artist put their emotions into the work, it was not expect for the same emotions to convey in the viewer.
Reflection:
This essay assignment gave me a deeper understanding on the various perspectives of art. I appreciated the author’s definition of art by using her coined term paleoanthropsychobiological. For me, this makes understanding art a form of science; I can view it in a minimum of four ways just from this term. One of the objectives of this unit was to examine the multiple perspectives on art, and this term does just that. It also involves the history of art, as well as its origins.
Dissanayake went into great detail about the different historical periods for art, each era with a different way of interpretation. The author stated that, “any ‘truth’ or ‘reality’ is only a point of view” (19), and that said, there is no time period that better interpreted art than another. This statement allows me to be more open when it comes to interpreting art, assuring me that there are various answers and no “right” one.
Future:
In the future, I would like to continue exploring changes between time periods. I am curious if new perspectives will arise in the future, or if we’ll begin to go back on a previous one. I believe technology will have a large influence in any changes the art world may undergo, as it has already. The image shown below is an example of how technology has already influenced art. It is a distribution of flight paths over a 24 hour period, and color coded based on the location of the destination.
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