After reading this week’s reading “What Is Art For”, I felt I have a new idea of art. For first several sections, the author Ellen Dissanayake gave us a brief introduction of art history, which I think was really interest me because I didn’t know this part of history before I read it. I had also learned a word called “paleoanthropsychobiological”, which is created by the author. I found this was interesting as well because it showed the attitude of the author regard of defining art. It is very complex and difficult to find a good definition for art. Art combines human history, includes all human societies, and has psychological effects (p. 15). I personally agree with Ellen on this one, and I think everybody would agree that art is an abstract thing. We talk about art everyday: a painting, a building, a picture, or even a people. But how could we really describe what art really is. It is a worth thinking question.
After reading this chapter, I had a basic outline about western art history. For example, I knew people use “technē” as a simple term to describe, “having a correct understanding of the principals involved. (p. 16)” During the nineteenth century, more and more people start to talk about aesthetics, which is “a concern with elucidating principles such as taste and beauty that govern all the arts and indeed make them not simply painting or statues but examples of art.” (p.3)” After a long time changing, people would like to think art as a separate thing with other things, and gave it a big enough area to grow. Nowadays, numbers kind of forms of art start to come into our lives. Speaking of art history, it made me think of China. China has thousands years of history, and its art history went through a lot of changes as well. We had drawings on rock, drawings with ink, and so on. It is quite different trend compare to west art history, but I found out that they also have things in common. They both represent the human life in that period of time. We can see how and why art changed in that way if we put ourselves in those shoes. This makes history even more interesting.
Speaking back to art, and I keep thinking what art really is after I read that chapter. Art went through that much time, and I think it really is not about form or the way people doing it. Instead, art is a feeing. I like the way Ellen said, art is a kind of behavior or an action to make things special. (p. 25) People should stop defining art or trying to find what art is, people should thinking what art could give back to us. Whatever art is, it makes us happy, makes us sad, brings us hope, gives us imagination, and it just something we cannot live without, and knowing this is enough.
Hi Rice, it is very excited to see your perspective of art form for both western and China. Yes, we did have huge glorious history of art showing daily life of Chinese people no matter on the rock or utensils, things like hunting and gathering food, caring for the sick and etc. As the author mentioned that “It is in ritual ceremonies where one sees the arts most profusely in traditional societies” (p. 23). And I would like to explore more on the point. The reason why art shows the life of people because art is being as interpretation. “interpret it according to their individual and cultural sensibilities” (p. 5). Art is free for anyone without boundaries. Besides, I want to say I can not totally agree with your opinions about the purpose of art. There is no doubt that “art is a kind of behavior or an action to make things special” (p. 25). Anything is special, it’s all depends.Depends on the reflection of personal’s emotions. No matter the happiness or depressed, which all make up our real life.
“Among these tendencies, I claim, is also the behavior or propensity to “make special,” particularly things that one cares deeply about or activities whose outcomes has strong personal significance.” After reading this weeks assignment I believe that art can be anything one wants it to be. Art can be anything from a famous painting, a children’s drawing, a handmade sculpture etc. Art is unique as well as individuals in society which is why art should not be defined.