In “Conversation Pieces” (2004), Grant Kester claims that art practitioners are no longer obligated to provide content or matter, physical evidence of an artistic process, to be considered art but it is sufficient to say that a situation or circumstance can be identified as art. He references the work of arts collective Wochenklauser, artist Suzanne Lacey and multiple community-based groups working through exchange and “relational aesthetic” principles, to support this view. The projects considered share an interest with the creative service of dialogue and exchange and occur in places far from the conventional sites in which we situate art (ie museums and galleries). Conversation becomes an intrinsic part of the work itself. Kester uses the term ‘dialogical’ to represent these and similar works which have participatory elements. In this document, he places these socially cognizant activities historically and associates them to key concerns in contemporary and avant-garde art and theory. In this essay I will use two examples of contemporary artists using this ‘immaterial’ practice that both support and contest Kester’s argument. I will discuss and analyse the construction of Kester’s argument, introduce my examples, and compare them in order to construct an informed understanding and concrete conclusion on the relevance and strength of his assertion. In this document, Kester asks for a change in understanding of what a work of art is and suggests that it should be considered as a durational experience; he calls for the aesthetic to be endured rather than immediate and instantaneous. He poses some very important questions, the first being, “Is it possible to develop a cross-cultural dialogue without sacrificing the unique iden... ... middle of paper ... ...st” prove that her project is art? Would it still be art if one of the students involved had conceived the idea, or would it be social activism? If one of the politicians of Wochenklauser’s boat trips had conceived the idea for unbiased discussion, would it be art or a new strategy in political engagement? What makes these activities art? Again, perhaps the question Kester should be asking is whether or not intent is more important than content, rather than context. It is with this that it is sufficient to say that yes, artists are no longer obliged to present a physical entity to be labelled art and subsequently a locus for discussion but it is ample to provide any form of context that can evoke discussion and change, however, there must be some element of conventional art understanding ie status of artist, placement in a traditional art institution.
Spending time looking at art is a way of trying to get into an artists’ mind and understand what he is trying to tell you through his work. The feeling is rewarding in two distinctive ways; one notices the differences in the style of painting and the common features that dominate the art world. When comparing the two paintings, The Kneeling Woman by Fernand Leger and Two Women on a Wharf by Willem de Kooning, one can see the similarities and differences in the subjects of the paintings, the use of colors, and the layout
Most of the time when we think about a piece of art, we believe a single person such as an artist, constructed it. After all, the artist is the person who painted, wrote, sang, shot, or organized the piece of art, don’t they deserve all the credit? In this essay, I argue that art is better and less problematic when the process of making it involves the opinions of many types of people. I am able to do so by analyzing Audre Lorde’s article, The Master's Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master's House, and applying her concepts to my own art pieces.
Even though an individual’s response is subjective, hermeneutical aesthetics focuses on interpretive incompleteness as part of the way human, viewers of artworks included, are in the world. An artwork is always experienced in the present from a particular present point of view and its interpretation is the transmission of meanings across time. In this way the artworks discussed in this thesis bear witness to particular historical events and allow for possible projections of those past events into the future. Contemporary life is permeated with a diversity of visual information. In such an atmosphere the hermeneutic approach provides a way of understanding the applications of the meaning we make of visual input. In light of it, the responsibility of both artist and viewer is among the issues discussed in the last part ‘Beyond Horizons’. Here the perspective moves to weave together the threads of ideas and issues that have been identified in the ‘Fusion of Horizons’ section, and reflects on aspects that reverberate beyond the shifting possibilities within the
My goal for this paper is to give a practical critique and defense of what I have learned in my time as a Studio Art Major. During my time here I have learned that Pensacola Christian college’s definition of art “art is the organized visual expression of ideas or feelings” and the four parts of Biblosophy: cannon, communication, client, and creativity. Along with Biblosophy I have studied Dr. Frances Schaeffer 's criteria for art, seeing how the technical, and the major and minor messages in artwork. All of these principles are great but they do need to be refined.
Introduction Upon my first encounter with Kandinsky's painting, my eyes and indeed my mind were overcome with a sense of puzzlement, as it seemed impossible to decipher what lay beneath his passionate use of colour and distorted forms. Kandinsky hoped by freeing colour from its representational restrictions, it, like music could conjure up a series of emotions in the soul of viewer, reinforced by corresponding forms. Throughout this essay, I will follow Kandinsky's quest for a pure, abstract art and attempt to determine whether his passionate belief in this spiritual art and his theories on its effects on the soul, can truly be felt and appreciated by the average viewer, who at first glance would most likely view Kandinsky's paintings as simply abstract. Kandinsky was indeed a visionary, an artist who through his theoretical ideas of creating a new pictorial language sought to revolutionize the art of the twentieth-century. Regarded as the founder of abstract painting, he broke free from arts traditional limitations and invented the first painting for paintings sake, whereby the dissolution of the object and subsequent promotion of colour and form became means of expression in their own right.
In order to familiarise myself with the above topic, I have invested much time reading vast selection of the portraiture art themes with aim to get acquainted with the knowledge and the language used in this particular subject. It was very challenging and entertaining to read comprehensive range of various critiques and analysis of the world best paintings stretching from ancient classic to contemporary western image. Developing understanding of the diverse art expressions and social and political influences tha...
In Confronting Images, Didi-Huberman considers disadvantages he sees in the academic approach of art history, and offers an alternative method for engaging art. His approach concentrates on that which is ‘visual’ long before coming to conclusive knowledge. Drawing support from the field of psycho analytics (Lacan, Freud, and Kant and Panofsky), Didi-Huberman argues that viewers connect with art through what he might describe as an instance of receptivity, as opposed to a linear, step-by-step analytical process. He underscores the perceptive mode of engaging the imagery of a painting or other work of art, which he argues comes before any rational ‘knowing’, thinking, or discerning. In other words, Didi-Huberman believes one’s mind ‘sees’ well before realizing and processing the object being looked at, let alone before understanding it. Well before the observer can gain any useful insights by scrutinizing and decoding what she sees, she is absorbed by the work of art in an irrational and unpredictable way. What Didi-Huberman is s...
The aesthetic movement was an artistic and literary movement that was centered on the saying “art for art’s sake” and arguing that art was not to be utilitarian or practical. The movement wanted art to exist for the sake of its beauty alone, and that it did not need to serve any political or didactic purpose. The pieces of art created by the artists in the movement did not tell stories or sermons; their art was visual, delightful, hinting at sensual desires; their poetry was pure. The proponents of the movement say that the experience of art is the most intense experience available in life and that nothing should be allowed to restrict it. The intensity of the aesthetic experience is the dominant goal in human life. If there are morally unwanted things of art, they do not really matter in contrast to this all-important experience which art can give.
Mr. Berger states in his essay, “The reciprocal nature of vision is more fundamental than that of a spoken dialogue. And often dialogue is an attempt to verbalize this- an attempt to explain how, either metaphorically or literally, “you see things” (120). This statement is a use of the rhetorical strategy, ethos, which is what Mr. Berger uses to gain influence and trust with the academic audience that he is intending to instill new knowledge in. This is a strong use of ethos that leads into how art is viewed so
Modern art runs a very important role in man’s life throughout history, because it that does not only give us inspiration but also the freedom to express ourselves through the use of different mediums.
The. Theories of Contemporary Art. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1985. Kotz, Mary Lynn. Rauschenberg/Art and Life. New York:
Diarmuid Costello, Jonathan Vickery. Art: key contemporary thinkers. (UTSC library). Imprint Oxford: Berg, 2007. Print.
His concern with the diversity of facial expression and with the expressiveness of body language is a conscious means of breaking taboos against what is ugly, absurd or instinctual. Sagazan’s performance explores extreme emotional states provoking more questions than answers. The contemporary “primitivism” movement in design and art examines objects that will become ritualized, layered with another spirit or energy - embedding them with a soul. Primitivism is, ins...
Human’s have always struggled to express themselves. Art, is considered by many to be the ultimate form of human expression. Many assume that art has a definition, but this is not the case. Art, it can be said, is “in the eye of the beholder.” This simply means that what you consider art, someone else would not. Art is part of a person’s internal emotions, which signifies why different people see art as different things. Every type of culture and era presents distinctive and unique characteristics. Different cultures all have different views of what art can, and would be, causing art itself to be universally renowned throughout the world.
Subsequent to the study of different philosophies of art, as well as completing projects asking for personal preference in art as well as objective “fine art,” a personal philosophy may, by necessity, include subjective and objective facets. In determining what fine art is, the quality of universality is important. There also does not have to be a traditional presentation of beauty for a work of art to be fine art. Contrary to R. G. Collingwood’s philosophy, for fine art the culture and setting in which art is created should not matter, because if art is universal and timeless, meaning endures outside of where and when it was created. Evaluation of art can be subjective, but fine art is universally appreciated regardless of understanding background,