Well, What Is It?!

             Last class we discussed the explosion of art in the 20^th century.  One artist in particular, Marcel Duchamp, changed the notion of the art making process.  In other words, he changed the way people looked at art.  He introduced the idea of conceptual art, meaning, “it is what it is” to contemporary art.  One of his most famous works is the fountain (1917).  This piece challenged the conventional art making process and ultimately the art market.  Duchamp’s actions greatly affected contemporary art.

Today, we discussed the meaning of art.  Milton Glaser described art as the most powerful tool for survival.  As humans, our objective is to survive.  Therefore, art is an essential part of life; it is important to the consciousness of humans.  According to Glaser, if something moves you to attentiveness it is considered art.  If not, it is something else.  Art is something that should spark a reaction in you, whether it is positive or negative.  The thing that calls attention to a piece of work is the artist’s art experience that they create.  Art serves several different functions; it can be spiritual, ritual or anything else. 

Bruce Nauman is one of the most innovative and provocative contemporary artists.  His practice includes a broad range of media.  He notes that he is an artist in a studio, and therefore anything that he does in studio is considered art.  When he realizes that he has mice in his studio, he sets up a tape to film the activity of the mice.  He began working in the art field a few years into his college education.

I think this discussion on what is art is intriguing because there are so many different opinions.  After watching Glaser’s video and then Nauman’s video, it is evident that no two people have the same opinion on what is art, or on any single work of art.  It is amazing to see that something so simple as a piece that looks like a men’s urinal can serve as a turning point in contemporary art.  After doing a little research on Duchamp, I was fascinated to see that the fountain was rejected from an art show because it was not considered art.  However, Duchamp is now famous for this piece and it is considered such a vital part of contemporary art and the change in the way people began to look at art and the process of making art.  One thing I found interesting was one of his pieces.  After talking about what art is and how it should provoke some sort of reaction from its viewer, I found a piece of work by Duchamp that I really didn't understand.  When looking at it all I could say to myself is, "What is that?"

This piece is Duchamp’s The Large Glass.  He executed the work on two pieces of glass with materials including foil, fuse wire and dust.  This piece is intended to compliment the visual experience.  Duchamp stated that this “hilarious picture is intended to depict the erratic encounter between a bride and her nine bachelors.”  When I looked at this piece I did not see any of this.  I personally had a hard time seeing the point of the work until I read an explanation of it.  I felt more of a reaction when I viewed his fountain piece and some of his other pieces I viewed online.  For some reason I struggled with this particular piece.

-Kristen

If You Say So!

Art is a beautiful form of self-expression.  According to this list, art can fit into an immense amount of categories.  However, I believe the criterion for art is infinite.  Although art can be seen as a symbol of several different things I feel art is art as long as you believe it to be.  If it is something that you find expresses yourself, your emotions or stands for something you believe in, then it is your own form of art. 

No two expressions are the same just as no two humans are the same.  That is what makes art so charming and unique.  Individuals create his or her own identity through this definition of what art means to them.  The splendors of art are countless.  Not only can each individual create his or her own form of art, but also one single work of art can be interpreted in several different ways.  

Although they may not be the original creator of a piece of work, anyone can take something and make it their own by finding his or her own personal message within the piece.  These infinite possibilities make art such a bold and striking way of expression and portraying emotion.

-Kristen

Can't you make an arguement that anything is art?

I think art is a form of self-expression by an individual. As long as the artist if pleased with their piece, the opinions of others should not matter. Art can take on many forms.

In the form of music, art could be created by “typical” instruments (voice, violins, clarinets, flutes, oboes, trumpets, trombones, tubas, bassoons, etc.,) or improvised instruments (pots and pans, silverware, plates, waterfalls, birds, etc.).

Art could take on the form of dance in structured form (ballet, pointe, hip-hop, tap, jazz, either choreographed or improvised) to people of any age going out to clubs dancing, to people at home, dancing in their underwear with the music blaring getting ready for work in the morning.

When it comes to photographs, this form of art captures a form of art captures a specific millisecond of life’s moments that the artist feels significant in their own life. For me, this moment included a time at my cousins third birthday party. My aunt and uncle invited family over for a party, but my cousin was mostly interested in gathering up the dozen balloons he had and when everyone was watching, letting them all go and watching them all fly to the ceiling and gathering them all up and doing it again.

In terms of drawings or paintings, these could take years of sketching and planning to come up with a piece that could be hung up in a museum or painted on a church ceiling. To the parents of the children I worked with over the summer, the best pieces of art they have ever seen were the pieces that took seconds to construct - macaroni glued to colorful construction paper with some carefully placed marker lines and circles.

Art could also be considered in a fashion sense. Fashion designers need to sketch designs, combine different styles, lines, shapes, and colors are all at the discretion of the designer. Hair dressers need to know how to cut straight lines and create certain dye colors - would you trust a stylist who was a beauty school dropout? Fashion is also an art form for people who decide what clothes to wear – people express themselves by what they wear. Makeup is also a way people often express themselves.

Another art form could be architecture. Buildings need to have a design plan, sketches, and blueprint all before going though the building process. If there were two hotels on adjacent corners (same prices, just to make my point) and one is the most beautiful hotel you have every seen, and the other looks like a run down shack, which hotel are you most likely to choose?

Art is also visible in the culinary industry. Do you know many people that would eat something that doesn't appeal to them (in their own personal opinion) visually? Think of cake competitions, wedding cakes, cup cakes, sweet sixteen cakes! People are willing to spend hundreds of dollars on cake that looks visually appealing that will just be eaten later. The show "Challenge" on Food Network features culinary artists competing using cake as their canvas.

Before trying to come up with a title for this blog, I thought that anything but people, plants, animals, or anything alive that is just living for the sake of living could be art. But, what about the argument of evolution vs. creationism? Not that this is my opinion, but taking a creationist perspective, isn't there a big artist out there somewhere?

-Alicia