Murals refer to the paintings and pieces of artwork which are applied or painted on the ceiling, wall and so on. According to the article named Food as Art, which is written by Elizabeth Telfer, art is defined as man-made stuffs which are made and appreciated with aesthetic consideration. I think in order to make murals be made and appreciated with aesthetic consideration (Telfer, 2002), the murals must accord with the public aesthetic standard at that time.

I have seen murals in many places. For example, I can find murals in many parks in China. Some of the murals are painted by the government, but some of the murals are painted by some common people. Some of the murals are painted for some political purpose; they are painted for the purpose of calling people to building a harmonious society and other political purposes (Willsdon, 2000). But some murals are painted to express the painters’ personal feeling. However, some murals can be controversial, because they are public and art (Doss, 2006). Both of art and public are controversial so that murals are bound to be controversial.

There are many reasons for morals to be controversial. First, everything public must be controversial, no matter how good or how bad one thing is.  Secondly, as a piece of art, mural is controversial because many people evaluate it to see whether it need to be improved, whether it accord with the aesthetic standard, what the identity of the people in the murals and so on. For example, the mural found in the Chauvet Cave, which is located in Ardèche department, southern France. When it is first found, its history is controversial. Then people evaluate people’s appearance, who the people appeared in the mural is, what the murals represents and function. Moreover, as different people have different opinions toward one thing, different people express different views to the  mural found in Chauvet Cave.

Even though different people have different aethestic standards, there is a public aethestic standard accepted by most of the public at the times. Therefore, murals must be judged by the beautification. As the western countries used to think that woman who is full and white is pretty, the women in the murals are full and white.  Of course, different countries have different aesthetic standard. But all in all, murals need to accord with the beautification at that time.

As most of murals in western countries appeared in Egyptian tombs, Pompiii and the Minoan  palaces, most of murals in eastern countries appeared in China, Indian, Egypt and so on, the murals in these places refer to the situation of these countries at that time. In order to have deeper understanding of the murals, people need to learn much about the history of these countries and places. In the 1930s, Mexican murals are used a political and social method. The murals at that time are called the “basement” of the politics. As murals are related to the history, murals are controversial.

The murals in China show rich culture of Buddhism. The murals in China show the Buddhist belief in China at that time.  The murals are placed and painted in the places which are important part of the Buddhism. As is known to all, Buddhism has great influence on the development of China in history. Most of murals found in China are related to Buddhism, especially the murals in Dunhuang.  The murals in Dunhuang are regarded as the evidence of the spread of Buddhism form India in history. Therefore, the places of murals are also controversial.

Murals are controversial also because of the way they are created. Some murals are pained on the wall, ceiling and so on. Some murals are pasted, and some are made with wood and many other methods. And some murals now are painted with the help of computer graphs. They are paint with computer first and then painted by machines. The use of machine and computer can increase efficiency. No matter which way the murals are painted, we cannot stop people from evaluating by their own standard.

As a well-known genre of public art, murals are controversial since the day they are found. Just like other art, murals are appreciated by different people from different points of view. Besides people’s personal opinion, murals are controversial because it is closely related to the aesthetical standard at that time, the purpose of politics, the place, its history, the culture and so on. When appreciate a mural, we should study some background information of the mural first. By learning history and other background information of the murals, we can have a deeper understanding of the murals. There are many ways to create murals before. With the development of technology, there are some new ways to create murals such as using computers and machines which can increase the efficiency. No matter which way murals are created, murals are influential in people’s life.

References:

Telfer, E. (2002). “Food As Art”. Arguing About Art: Contemporary Philophical Debates. Taylor-Francis e-Library, 17-26.

Doss, E. (2006). Public Art Controversy: Cultural Expression and Civic Debate. New York: Americans for the Arts.

Willsdon, C.A.P. (2000). Mural Painting in Britain 1840-1940: Image and Meaning. Oxford: Oxford University Press