Pete Fecteau's The Pleasures Of Aesthetics?

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According to the Oxford dictionary, Art is an expression or application of human creative skill and imagination producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power. (oxforddictionaries.com). In the area of the Arts, it seems that knowledge is attained through a holistic lens, where its approach towards knowledge emphasizes the whole of an artwork rather than their constituent parts (simplyphyschology.com). Art can be accessible since the audience is able to experience it directly, with the help of our senses. As viewer we enjoy aesthetic pleasure, which involves an appreciation of the contents in relation to vehicles or supports. (Levinson, 1996) In fact, according to Jerrold Levinson’s ‘The Pleasures of Aesthetics’ …show more content…

In order to understand the meaning of an artwork, besides the overall aesthetics of an artwork, it requires the viewer to have knowledge on the context in which a work of art is produced. With this knowledge, the viewer employs a holistic approach towards an artwork. For example, Pete Fecteau’s “Dream Big” is a mosaic is made of 4,242 officially licensed Rubik’s Cubes, as shown in the image below. When looked as the whole, the icon, Martin Luther King Jr. is seen. A historical icon that embodies freedom and hope, for people who are aware of his social and cultural influence, at that time. The simple components in this case would be the image of Martin Luther king Jr. and 4,242 well-arranged Rubik’s …show more content…

Often artists can express complex emotions in a form of a single subject matter. For example, the movement of abstract expressionism originating in the middle of the twentieth century was an approach to modernism/ post-modernism accentuating the uninhibited expression of emotions. The products of this genre are characteristically free and loosely structured, stylistically. They tend to focus the emotions that could be derived from the artworks rather than clear representational imitation of reality. In this artwork, ‘Red, Brown and Black’ (1958) by Mark Rothko, all consist of soft, rectangular bands of color stretching horizontally across his canvas. The artist views color as the most powerful communication tool. Through his blocks of color, which are representative of the simple components in the artwork, are meant to provide a contemplative, meditative space in which to visually investigate one's own moods and affiliations with the chosen palette. ‘He sought to distill an essence, or true nature, out of codified hues’

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