World of Art

Individual 1

I saw a Chinese woman speaking Chinese on the phone on the street. She wore a pair of flat shoes and a large coat. she had a big belly and she did not makeup. I believe she is a pregnant and happy woman because from her face, I can see smiles and they never go away. In Chinese culture and my own value, pregnant mother cannot have makeup and never wear high shoes in order to protect them and their babies. Based on my value, almost every pregnant mother will wear a large and cute clothes everyday and everywhere. I feel she is around 30 years old because her wrinkle lines around her eyes are very light and her skin looks soft and white. There was a Bible in this woman’s hand. I think she is a Christian who would go to the church to pray for her baby to have a healthy and happy life. She always put her hand on her belly, so I believe she loves her baby very much and want to touch her baby all the time. I think the value of families are very important for her. I think the woman is a great Chinese mother. According to my own value, I will do the same thing for my future children, such as wearing large, soft and protective clothes, praying for my children and prohibiting all the dangerous actives.

Individual 2

I saw a male behaviorist prepare to work on the street. He had short and silver color hair. He painted all his clothes, pants and shoes into silver. He also wore a fashion and colorful sunglasses. He voice was husky. He first put a bowl on the street that had some cash inside. Then he played an active music. Following the music, he danced like a robot. I think each action of him looked like an artwork. I believe this is a very hard work for him, because in my value,  behaviorists will go on the street and act for a long time. So he must love his behaviorist career very much. Other than making money, I think he wanted to show his professional dance to the audiences. According to my own value, behaviorists can create art in their own form and express the meaning of art on creative ways.

Individual 3

I saw an middle-aged and attractive women walked fast to the other side of the street. She wore a white T-shirt, a bright necklace, a black medium short dress and a pair of high banded shoes. She hold some documents tightly. I believe the documents are very important. I believe she was waking ahead to her office. There was a tired expression on her face, so I think she was doing a lot of works today. I think she was a confident woman who worked very hard. In my value, a business women is confident and attractive. She has very beautiful woman’s shape and I think she had participated many social activities and she has many friends. According to my beliefs, an attractive and successful woman should always have confident smile on their face and she can support herself. She does not need to have beautiful face but she needs to keep her body shape good.

Dersesiewicz, W. (2012, October). A Matter of Taste? [On-line article] Retrieved October 25, 2013 from http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/28/opinion/sunday/how-food-replaced-art-as-high-culture.html

I did my research on the article “A Matter of Taste?” written by William Deresiewicz. In the article, the author describe how food related to art, but also provide his own opinion that food can not be an art. To build the main point, William first introduced how food related to art and why foodlism believed that food was replacing art. William mentioned that new creation of taste would lead to a taste for art. (William, 1) Then, William described several similar characteristics of food related to arts. Like art, people also like to share food with their friends. Like art, food was developed to things that related to culture, education, entertainment, politics, religious and many other fields. After explaining why food was related to art, William produced his own perspective toward when food is art. He provided two main reasons that why he said food is not art. William believed that food is not narrative or representational and food does not express emotion. William also provided some examples to support his point and in his conclusion, he agreed the importance of food in human life, but against that food is an art.

Comparing with the Tefler’s essay “Food as art”, William’s article has several similar point related to Tefler’s essay. First, both of the two articles describe how creation and combination of taste lead food toward an art. In Tefler’s article, she stated “I conclude that there are no limitations, in us or in the nature of tastes themselves, which prevent food from giving rise to works of art in the evaluative sense of that phrase though these will be simpler than in the arts of sight and sound.(Tefler, 22) She believed that without limitations of taste, it would rise works of food toward arts. William produced similar opinion related to taste in his first paragraph that creation of taste for food would lead to a taste for art.(William, 1) Second, both of the articles, mentioned that food can be shared with other people and different people might have different feelings and reactions, just like people would share their different views toward arts. Tefler stated that people would share the same dish of food and appreciate them together, but different people would eat different parts of the dish and they may have different opinions toward the same dish.(Tefler, 17) William also talked about sharing food with other people like people share arts with other people. Third, both of the articles admitted that food is not representational. Tefler stated that “To begin with, food does not represent anything else, as most literature and much visual art does.” (Tefler, 25) William also stated that both food and art can address senses, but art can do a lot more than food. He used apple as an example to support his opinion that apple is not a story, even if we can tell a story about it.

Both of the article also have several different opinions toward whether food is art. First, William believed that arts need to be narrative or representational and food cannot fulfill this requirement, so food is not art. However, Tefler stated in her article that “It might be said with justice that an art does not need to be representation in order to be a major art.” (Tefler, 25) Tefler used music as an example that music does not represent the world so much as create another world of its own. But most of people will view music as a type of art. I agree with Tefler’s idea, because I do not think anything that representational could be art. For example, a user guide on the cover of a type of cooking source shows how to use the source which is representational, but most likely not art. In addition, sometimes, food can be representational. For example, different Chinese food can represent different culture and place in China such as spicy food can represent food from Sichuan.

Second, William stated that food does not express emotion but art does, so food is not art. However, Tefler stated “The inability of food to express emotion does not mean that cooks cannot express themselves in their work.” (Tefler, 26) William believed that food can evoke emotions, but only very roughly and generally, and only within a very limited range such as comfort and delight, but not anger or happy. (William, 1) Tefler hold a different view that even though food cannot express emotions but cooks can. I agree with Tefler’s opinion. Indeed, food itself cannot express complicated emotions, but cook can create food that can express emotions. For example, a cake itself cannot express happy, but a cook can build a smile on the top of the cake which express the meaning of happiness. Also, a cake itself cannot express love, but a cook can create a symbol on the cake to show the meaning of love. Food itself is hard to express emotions, but people can add additional meanings to the food with creation use other representational symbols.

William’s article provide a very helpful viewpoint related to the topic and it stimulated me to think about both side of the argument. Also, this article showed both similar and different points related to the course materials which can help me to analyze the topic deeper and enhance my understanding about the course materials as well as the topic.

After reading the article from Elizabeth Telfer, my thoughts and understanding of art were once again enriched. Elizabeth brought a very challengeable question that whether people view food and drinks as arts. To me, food can be viewed as an art. Food can be also made for visual purpose that can bring aesthetic value for people. Many artists use regular raw materials for preparing food to create beautiful art works for people to view. Some people may argue that those art works are not making for food purpose which is eating, they are making for showing or even celebrating. But those art works made by the same raw materials as food and they have the same taste as regular food. The main difference between regular food and art works is the way to create and make combinations. In the article, Elizabeth stated “Food properly so called is like wise often arranged or decorated in creative and attractive ways which constitute a visual work of art.” (Elizabeth, 14) When food was created and combined is an beautiful way which can attractive viewers and produce aesthetic value for them, food is becoming an art.

It recalled my memory of Dissanayake’s essay “What is Art for?”. In Dissanayake’s essay, she describe a theory that art is for life’s sake. She stated “I believe, by considering art in the broadest possible perspective–the palaeoanthropsychobiological view that I mentioned— as a universal need and propensity of the human species.” (Dissanayake, 21) She used a word called “palaeoanthropsychobiological” to represent art and she believed that art was made to satisfy human’s needs. I think this theory can best represents my view about food as an art. Food itself can satisfy people’s surviving needs. And people created an food art by using regular food materials to attract people and satisfy their aesthetic needs. When I see food, I will think about eating, but if I see an art made by food materials, I will think about art and beauty. When the needs changes, food can be viewed as an art.

Reference:

1. Tefler, E. (2002). Food as Art. In Neill, A. & Riley, A. (eds.) Arguing About Art: Contemporary Philosophical Debates (2nd ed., Chap. 2). New York, NY: Routledge.

2. Dissanayake, E. (1991). What is art for? In K. C. Caroll (Ed.). Keynote adresses 1991 (NAEA Convention), (pp.15-26). Reston, VA: National Art Education Association.

1.    Describe the term paleoanthropsychobiological. Who coined this term?

Palaeoanthropsychobiological is a term that coined by Dissanayake. In her article, she explained that Palaeoanthropsychobiological consits with three parts which were palaeo, anthropsy, and psychobiological. This term shows that art has a long history and it experienced the development of human society; arts includes everything in human’s society and it can reflect many aspects of the development of society; arts can express human’s emotion and reflect psychological reaction. In addition, this Palaeoanthropsychobiogical also refers to the changes of art from the history and the broad interpretation and function of arts today.

2.  What does Dissanayake mean by the phrase “making special?” How does it relate to art and to human survival?

In Dissanayake’s article, she stated “I claim, is also the behavior or propensity to make special particularly things that one cares deeply about or activities whose outcome has strong personal significance.” (Dissanayake, 22) The phrase “making special” here is talking about the natural instincts of human and other life species, such as use language and making tools. This phrase was related to Dissanayake’s species-centered theory that during the development of human society, human beings adapted the natural environment and other unavoidable situation in order to survive. In addition, this phrase also refers to animal’s instincts to help animals to survive. In the reading, Dissanayake said that “The special could take on a significance that was more than simply alertness to possible danger.” (Dissanayake, 22) She believed that human beings and animals make themselves special to build natural instincts and reactions to protect themselves and make themselves unusual. The reason why “make special” also related to arts is because art is also considered make things special. Art emphasizes things that people and society concern and creates behaviors or activities to make things unusual and special. Dissanayake talked about the relationship between species-centered view and art that “The species-centered view of art I have developed here claims that there is valid and intrinsic association between what humans have always found to be important, and certain ways —- called the arts— that they have found to manifest, reinforce, and grasp this importance.” (Dissanayake, 24) “Make special” was related to make something important, unusual, and survivable and this is how it connected with art and human survivals because both art and human survivals require adaption, development, and changes during their development processes.

3.  Dissanayake identifies many different theories/movement/periods of art throughout western european history. Name three different theories of art that Dissanayake mentions in her essay. Identify the time period when each theory developed and was prominent. Provide a brief description of the philosophies and ideas that define each theory/movement/period of art. Support your answer with quotes from the reading.

The first theory was created and become prominent in medieval times which viewed in the service of religion.(Dissanayake, 16) In this period, art was mainly serve for religious purpose to celebrate important dates or events. During this period, art was developing at its early stages which appied equally to fishing, chariotdriving, and other mundane activities.(Dissanayake, 16) This theory viewed art as understand correctly of the principles involved rather than people viewed art based on their own interests.

The second theory was Modernism. This theory was created and became prominent in the 18th century which viewed art as ideology. Dissanayake stated that “… A concern with clucidating principles such as taste and beauty that govern all the arts and indeed make them not simply paintings or statues but examples of fine art.” (Dissanayake, 17) This theory supported a “disinterested” attitude to separate one’s interests to art that people can appreciate any arts without their personal interests.

The third theory was post modernism. This theory was developed and became prominent in 19th and 20th century which viewed art as interpretation. Dissanayake stated that “While the term postmodern is used as indiscriminately as united in repudiating the high art view I have just described.” (Dissanayake,19) This theory challenged modernism theory and it stress that theirs is not just one more “ism” or movement but rather a declaration of the end of all isms and movements. (Dissanayake, 19) This theory supported that people can view art based on their personal prospective and the same art may have different interpretations. This theory expand the boarder of arts to approach normal people’s life and allow more people to view art base on their own experience and interests. Post modernism theory brought art to another social level toward a widely acceptable direction.

In the article “What is art for?” by Ellen Dissanayake, the author describe the development of art from different time period. According to the article, in medieval times, the arts were in the service of religion. (Ellen, 4) In the eighteen century, five important and unprecedented changes lead a revolution of society, technology, political environment as well as art. (Ellen, 5) After a long period of development of art, it became a word that can represent everything in people’s mind. This article enhanced my understanding of the history of art and the broad interpretation of art. Art does not represent its work and its activities, it also represents the value and customs behind those art works and activities. In addition, art can translate everything thing from people’s mind such as idea, thoughts and emotions. The most impressive point for me in this article is how art activities can intemperate local cultures and customs in ritual ceremonies.

“ It is in ritual ceremonies where one sees the arts most profusely in traditional societies and where I believe the nascent tendency to make special would have had the opportunity to diversify and flourish.” (Ellen, 23)

I think the reason why art can represent local cultures and customs is many art activities and art works can show the developments and characteristics of local culture and custom. During a local ritual ceremonies, how people create art activities can reflect their culture and customs. For example, if a ceremony has art activities which will involve a large number of people dancing together, it will typically shows collectivism in local culture. If a ceremony has art activities which present by local families, it will show the value of family in local culture. If a ceremony has art activities related to competition, it shows the value of competition and achievement in local culture.

Refereence

Dissanayake, E. (1991). What is art for? In K. C. Caroll (Ed.). Keynote adresses 1991 (NAEA Convention), (pp.15-26). Reston, VA: National Art Education Association.

Top 5 values :

Health

Family

Security

personal accomplishment

enjoyment

The following 15 other values:

Friendship

loyalty

leadership

personal development

wealth

community

wisdom

expertness

service

power

prestige

independence

integrity

creativity

location

Today, I woke up in the morning and went out for running around 30 minutes. This activity represent my value of health. Then, I went back home and prepare food for lunch. This activity represent my value of health and enjoyment, since I like preparing health food for myself. After having lunch, I went to library to finish my homework until dinner time. This activity represent my value of personal accomplishment as well as personal development. After dinner, I talked with my family over the phone. This activity represent my value of family. Then I watched movies until late night and go to bed and sleep. This represent my value of enjoyment.

I believe my family was one of the most important factor to drive the development of my values. Health and family values were directly came from my family. My parents prepare health food everyday and they are very concerned about their family members and relationships among the family. However, some of values came from my family to me are not as important as before after I grew up. For example, my parents value location a lot, since they love my home cities and want to live in that city forever. But to me, I might want to move to some bigger cities which may provide better chance for my career. One goal I have and yet to pursue is travelling all around the world to experience different cultures and different people. Time and money are the  difficulties to realize this goal.

In the article “Sorting It Out: How We Choose Our Values”, the author produces a question that how do people arrive these evaluations and beliefs. Then the author uses four basic modes and two synthetic mental modes to explain how people know things and establish evaluations. When I read this section, a questions came into my mind that if I knew something is true, but actually I was wrong that something is not true, how can I adjust my established values. In the article, the author summarize the sense experience mode:

“I know it’s true because I saw it, I heard it, I tasted it, I smelled it, or I touched it myself.” (Lewis, 9)

Indeed, we always rely on what we see, hear, taste, smell and touch in our daily life. However, if what we experienced and what we believed were not the true, how should we figure it out and adjust our mind and values?  When I was small, my parents always told me to study hard and I saw every child around me studied harder than me. I built understandings and values about studying hard and high test score that they could guarantee my future successes. At that time, I valued the test score was the most important thing in my life. However, after I grew up, I knew what I believed was wrong that high test score could help, but not guarantee my future successes. I changed my mind and adjusted my values, but it took me a long time to figure it out and make adjustments. Is there a way to evaluate what we experienced and help us to build the right understandings and values especially in our childhood?

I believed bias is one of the main reasons why our experience could produced information that was not true. For example, if you are a MBA student, and all other MBA students around you earned salaries above $50,000 a year, you might build a value that a MBA student should earn a yearly salary of $50,000 or more. At this moment, if a company offer you only $30,000, you might reject it. However, your value might be wrong which will produce extra pressure for your future career. How should we figure out what we believed and our values are right? My answer is asking more people and more questions. If you received different opinions and answers than you thought, you might want to re-evaluate your experience.

Reference:

Lewis, H. (1990). A Question of Values: Six Ways We Make the Personal Choices That Shape Our Lives. Axios Press.