In my cognitive, art is the beauty. Artwork, natural, behavior, everything could be as art. So art is a very extensive thing. However, I have never considered what the real art is. But after I read the reading and watch the video, I learned few things about what is art. In the article, Dissanayake mentions, “Art include all human societies, it accounts for the fact that art is a psychological or emotional need and has psychological or emotional effects”(15). So art is not just as an artwork or represents the beauty. It contains people’s life, behavior, thoughts and aspirations. Actually, art existed in millions years ago. According Denis presentation, “It is widely assumed that the earliest human artworks are the stupendously skillful cave, and about 32,000 years old. And the artistic skills has been found from around 100,000 years ago”. Also there is a tool called acheulian hand axes, which has been found from around 1.4 million ago. And those are the earliest art. The features of those ancient art is delicacy and useful. Furthermore, as Denis described, “Hand axes mark an evolutionary advance in human history-tools fashioned to function as what Darwinians call “fitness signals”. In other words, art is a very universal; it is not a luxury item. No mater in the past, nowadays, and in the future, It can be used as a beautiful of art, but also can be used as a practical tool. Moreover, in the present, art is exists in many places. And art is not restricted by religion, race, gender or something else. Painting, music, movies are art. Also, when I visit Niagara Falls, I praise the art that natural bring to us constantly. That’s pure and gives a shaky felling. Art exists in different form in our life. Next, let’s talk about the Mona Lisa. As we all know, it’s mysteriously. Until now, People want to explore the potential value of this work. And people want to know the story about Mona Lisa all around the world. So what is Art? Personally, I think art is something that people has resonated. However, there are many differences between arts, but it also contains the cross cultural aesthetic pleasure and aesthetic value.
I liked your statement that, “art is not just as an artwork or represents the beauty.” I think that people often assume that in order for art to be “good” is has to be beautiful and elegant or aesthetically pleasing, but I do not think that this is always the case. Dissanayake talks a lot about how art is something that humans need emotionally and psychologically, which is something that I agree with. People’s emotions and thoughts aren’t always beautiful and I think that sometimes the beauty of art might not be something that people physically see, but is the underlining meaning of what a piece of art is. I also loved how you mentioned your visit to Niagara Falls and how you appreciated the natural art of it and how this form of art is a different form than other forms of art. I think that natural art is so much different than art that is created by humans and can sometimes be very underappreciated.