Art is an abstract concept, which is complicated and simple. The art is complicated because lots of artistic work are hard to understand and meaningful. The art is simple because the art is from people’s daily lives, it can be a song, a talking or a movement.
From the reading material, What is art for?, Dissanayake shows us a comprehensive definition of “What is art for?” At first, he mentioned that “art must be viewed as an inherent universal(or biological) trait of the human species, as normal and natural as language, sex, sociability, aggression, or any of the other characteristics of human nature.”(page 1) That means human nature has the ability to find and view and appreciate the art. Then he described his past living in other countries, which “made him 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.”(page 2) Dissanayake’s method is biological or evolutionary, which is “looking at all humans as members of one species and then thinking of art as a kind of behavior that developed as they evolved, to help them survive.” (page 2) Then, he discussed the development of the western concept of art. In western art history, the pattern of manifestation is beauty, poetry, and image making. Then Dissanayake introduces the Modernism, which is “Art as Ideology.” The the main pattern of manifestation is similar to the earlier western concept of art, such as beauty and taste. All this things are sensorial. As the tittle said, “Art as Ideology.” Then, Dissanayake introduces the Postmodernism period, which is “Art as Interpretation.” This concept means the Postmodernism artists focus on the description and decoration on these art works, such as poetry and the architecture. Finally, Dissanayake gives an answer of “What is art for?” The answer is “Art for life’s Sake.” It is really true because “art is a normal and necessary behavior of human beings that like talking, exercising, playing, working, socializing, learning, loving and nurturing.” Hence, art is from life, and art is for life’s sake too!
July 27, 2014 at 10:56 pm
Your description of Dissanayake’s conclusion of art being necessary for humans and constantly around us made a lot of sense to me. Art surrounds us and if you set your mind to it, the term art can describe almost anything in our daily lives. It’s a very general term and before reading this article, I had such a narrow perspective on what was true ‘art’. I like how you contrasted the idea of art to be complicated and simple at the same time. It can be hard to comprehend and understand when it is something so simple that a person may do every day. This brings back the idea of postmodernism from Ellen Dissanayake’s article, “What is Art For?” when she states, “postmodernism’s insistence that it belongs to everyone and is potentially all around us.” It leaves art up to the viewer’s interpretation and dismisses the idea of expertise of an artist or viewer.
July 28, 2014 at 2:53 am
Hello Jenny, just like you said, “What was true art?” I just come out some personal ideas about your points. In my opinion, the true art is different depends on different people. For example, a true art for an artist might be a Mona Lisa, but a true art for a farmer might be a harvest. In other words, the true art is what you can get the happiness from your life. So, whatever you do, if you can feel happy and enjoy it, it might be a real art in your life.
July 29, 2014 at 7:16 pm
You made some very good points about art being for the sake of art in the sense that it is seen now. I think that there could be an extension of this idea though. There are times when art is created outside of the dimensions of art as we think of it. When we are driving in a car and see a stop sign, is that not art? It is not created for the sake of being art, but their are artistic qualities to the sign. The sign is designed to be eye catching and able to be recognized by anyone that sees it. This is not something that someone would necessarily sit back and look at and say yes it is art, but I think that the definition of art is ever changing and growing. I think that limiting it in any fashion creates an idea that there are only certain things that are art. I think that the reality is art is so diverse that we may not even realize how many areas it goes into.