Did you hear about the two little boys who found themselves in a modern art gallery by mistake? "Quick," said one, "Run! Before they say we did it!" Although this may be a hilarious slap your knee joke, I believe this depicts how society feels about modern art. As a popular saying goes “’Modern art’ is produced by incompetents, sold by charlatans, and bought by ignoramuses!” Why such the skepticism towards current art? Why do art historians and renowned scholars set new art aside in favor of a Monet or Rembrandt? Is the importance of modern art so infinitesimal that it is reduced to child’s play? Or, better yet, is contemporary art worthy enough to be art? Meandering through the Lowe Art Museum, I constantly find myself attracted to the Modern Art section of the museum like a magnet to a refrigerator. More specifically, I am attracted to the piece entitled Shattered Illusions. Shattered Illusions consists of five glass bottles: glass bottles that looked as if they have been around for centuries and endured extensive use by multiple people. The bottles have a yellow tint symptomatic of aging and rigid holes that suggest previous use. Inside of each of these average-sized bottles are figures that represent humans. Each bottle has a different figure; for instance, two of the bottles contain what seem to be females and the other three males. Each figure is tangled helplessly in this relentless coil that protrudes from every direction imaginable like there is no end or hope in sight. The coil wraps around the figures’ extremities, midsection, and neck wanting to choke the life right out of them. In each bottle the figures are struggling with the desire to escape, but not everyone is set free. The center bottle has... ... middle of paper ... ...and mysterious but as Gladwell states “It is one thing to acknowledge the enormous power of snap judgments and thin slices but quite another to place our trust in something so seemingly mysterious” (51). Art has no set characterization so therefore no one could declare whether or not something is art. Art is left up to perception of the viewer and not the opinion of the critic; in quintessence art is indefinable—that is the beauty! Works Cited Esaak, Shelley. “What Is Art?” Art History. About .com. 29 Sept. 2006 Read, Herbert. Art Now. London: Faber and Faber Limited, 1968. Requadt, Water E. “Modern Sculpture: Art or Incompetence?” What Is Art? 2006. 29 Sept. 2006 Richardson, Tony and Nikos Stangos. Concepts of Art. New York: Penguin Books, 1974.
The American artist Fred Tomaselli arranges pills, leaves, insects and cutouts of animals and body parts to create his pieces of art. His incorporation of items are arranged to suggest a level of perception along with a heightened visual experience. This gives me, the viewer, a sense of Energy. The perception of color that Fred uses gives a gravitating feel. If you take a look at the heart of this piece you can instantly visualize the different items Fred incorporates into the piece.
Mays claims that Modern Art’s very philosophy is based on freedom from tradition and the removal of the artist’s hand and therefore immediately disqualifies the crafts with their antiquated, ideals. He equates art--the educated eye, with intellect and craft--the intimate hand, with popular culture. In other words, artists can make well crafted work on the condition that they don’t enjoy themselves too much and craftspeople are tolerable so long as they stay out of Modern Art’s intellectual domain. Believing the craft community to be lacking the necessary ingredients for intellectual prowess, Mays also blames craft critics as well as the community at large for being too friendly and and encouraging
Around the world, people have been searching for and experimenting with different ways to express themselves. One of the most diverse ways takes place in the form of art. Art is comprised of many different categories and sub-categories, but all of them sending the same message: expression. As long as a piece is created from emotion, beliefs, and influence, it can be considered “art”. One of the forms of art that takes on a 3-dimensional affect is the sculpture. Sculptures are one of the earliest forms of art, right next to its 2-dimensional “cousin”, Drawings. Two specific sculptures that take place in the B.C. era are “Memi&Sabu” and “Statue of Gudea”.
I didn’t know the exhibit would be displaying two pieces artwork which would awaken and reveal a hidden attitude of remorseful anger. As I analyzed Alfred Jaars and Nan Goldin’s pieces of art, both pieces revealed my conflicting attitudes of frustration, loss, fear, anxiety and anger. I didn’t like these feelings I was confronting at the moment, but I had to come ...
Isabella, I read your post and I wanted to add to the conversation. You bring up some very interesting and good points. For me, this video interpreted a reasonable argument against the decline of art. Why is Modern Art so bad? Well, I don't think it is, but for some, I do think it is valid to point out that it has erased an identity and the expectation of excellence in tradition. I have quite an affinity to Modern Art, so, it pains me to agree with some of the videos points. I think to sum up the argument against the ideas of Modern Art, is to state that it largely focuses on the individual. This is what I truly like about it, I can see the world through another’s eyes, but the other side of it is about giving credit to the traditional structure
Modern art serves to immerse us more thoroughly in a scene by touching on more than just our sight. Artists such as Grosz, and Duchamp try to get us to feel instead of just see. It seems that this concept has come about largely as a way to regain identity after shedding the concepts of the Enlightenment. “Philosophers, writers, and artists expressed disillusionment with the rational-humanist tradition of the Enlightenment. They no longer shared the Enlightenment's confidence in either reason's capabilities or human goodness...” (Perry, pg. 457) It is interesting to follow art through history and see how the general mood of society changed with various aspects of history, and how events have a strong connection to the art of the corresponding time.
"Modern art." Encyclopedia Britannica. Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica Inc., 2011. Web. 02 Dec. 2011. .
Art by definition is “the expression or application of creative skill and imagination, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power,” (Hacker, 2011).
Throughout the history of , which is arguably the length of time held within the universe, not much has been distorted. Art, along with is an incredibly difficult subject to comprehend, due to the varying nature of themes, opinions, and judgments. Not to cite all the societies, time periods, ethnicities, age and gender biased opinions. It is neither a science, nor a philosophy. It is both. within itself is a beauty, which will forever perplex the minds of the world. Art, placed in the neighborhood of philosophy and science reveals its innate inclination, (although undefined) to forever intrigue and perplex both the scientific and philosophical minds.
Barrett Terry. Criticizing art: understanding the contemporary. (UTSC library). Imprint New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 2012. Print.
Art is not useless as Oscar Wilde stated; nor is it the death of logic by emotion as Plato supposed. Art is an activist trying to inform and shape the social consciousness. Art by nature is critical and questions how the world is perceived. These questions are pivotal in creating change within society. The Armory Show, a major turning point in American art, for example, was inspired by shifting perceptions of the aesthetic and a stirring toward modernity. The Armory Show was an artistic rebellion against the juries, prizes, and restricted exhibitions that excluded unacademic and yet t...
Art is one of the most intriguing and exiting forms of human expression. A picture can tell a thousand words and often stir up feelings inside the viewer. Art is all around us.buildings,electronic equipment like a computer, and even automobiles are all a form of art.
Art can be defined in many ways by an individual. One can say that any creative output by a person is considered art. Others contend that art must conform to a societal standard and the basis of the creation should be understood by most intellectual people. For example, some contend that computer-generated images, such as fractals, are not art due to the large role played by a computer. E.O. Wilson states “the exclusive role of the arts is to intensify aesthetic and emotional response. Works of art communicate feeling directly from mind to mind, with no intent to explain why the impact occurs” (218). A simple definition may be that art is the physical expression of the ideals formed by the mind.
So to answer the question you need to think what is art? To me art is a form of representing a person’s ideas which can be in any form of media whether it be a painting, a film, or a song, a novel or a photograph. For it to be classed as art though it must provoke emotion or thought and show signs of creativity.
Had you asked me what art was a few weeks ago I wouldn’t have had a logical answer. If what the artist tried to portray is understood by a minimum of one person in the world, I would consider this a piece of art. What categorizes a masterpiece, however, is when the majority of people understand and recognize the meaning and are moved by the piece of work. The definition of art is the expression or process of creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power. Art has been present in our daily life’s for as long as humanity has existed, for many years we have openly created, observed, critiqued, and enjoyed art. Nevertheless,