Art and Its Importance - Essay Example

Art As much as I used to like art, I knew very little about it. It was always my hobby and still is to admire pieces of arts produced by different artists. I specifically admired arts that described nature: the landscape, terrain, weather, and vegetation. Today, am very conversant with the fact that, art is one of the best medium for passing important information to viewers. My perception concerning art has constantly changed over time. I have particularly found a new meaning of art. A piece of art is usually an image produced by painting. It incorporates a combination of different colors that ideally represent different meaning. An art comprises of the main subject (image) and a background. The background sets a platform within which the image is established giving more meaning to the art. I have realized that a piece of art can help one identify an artist's intention and thinking. It represents the artist mood and emotion at the time of painting. In addition to this, a piece of art can be used to describe characteristic feelings that are a subject of personal beliefs, culture, and factual declaration. In this case, a piece of art can be considered indicative, optative, injunctive, emphatic, potential, imperative or interrogatory. In the event when the artist applies different colors in an image, he is trying to associate these colors with different activities in our life. For instance, blue color may be used to represent depression; the color may also act as a symbol of hope. Black colors are used to represent dark moments. For example, artists will use a black background in an image to signify death, hunger or accident. It is in no doubt that, art is a technique used by many artists to pass idea and information to people all over the world. Pieces of arts represent the artist’s feelings, emotions, and mood. Different type of colors applied in an image is associated with different events in our life. Bright colors are used to represent jovial moments while dark colors are usually to represent awful moments. Figure/Ground Relationship Understanding various concept and principles in Gestalt would never have been complete without a clear understanding of the principle of figure/ground relationship. Therefore, I took a considerable amount of time trying to understand the idea behind this principle. In the course of the study, I discovered that the principle of Figure/Ground relationship suggests that any given visual image must have in place two features. It should have a meaningful part also known as the figure and an indistinct part referred as the ground. The meaningful part has the following characteristics: convex, dark, dominate, unbroken, meaningful, and it is at the bottom part of the picture frame. On the other hand, the ground is described as concave, behind, broken, and subordinate. The relationship between the figure and the ground must be clearly defined to facilitate visual stability. For this reason, contrast is usually used to enhance this stability; it is particularly fundamental in allowing us to read the imagery presented in a piece of art. I have also come to understand that, a figure in any piece of drawing is expressed by spatial correlation among all the figures that appears on a page. The ground comprises of the entire background or the backfield on a piece of paper, and it is the left white space, negative space, and the format that carries the visual image. Briefly, for any piece of design to be considered complete, it must incorporate two features: the figure and the background. In one way or another, the two depends on each other; they facilitate the meaningful of the design and boost the understanding of the image by the viewer. Gestalt Principle of Isomorphic Correspondence Understanding Gestalt Principle has significantly boosted my understanding in art. It is, particularly when studying about Gestalt principle of isomorphic correspondence. Consequently, I understand there is an intimate relationship between the structural characteristic of human behavior. The structural characteristic is responsible for triggering physical or psychological experiences in our lives. I particularly had the pleasure to come to terms with the main elements of Gestalt principle of isomorphic correspondence (consciousness and physiological process). There exists a very close relationship between consciousness and the physiological process. The relationship is extensively explained under the theory of phi phenomenon that recognizes the fact that, what people think is an element of physiological short-circuit that usually occurs in the brain. In fact, Gestalt principle of isomorphic correspondence has helped me to comprehend why one is subjected to some memories when observing a piece of art. For instance, it is very evident that one will always try to relate a piece of art to something he had come across in the past; this is when he is trying to understand some ideas presented in a given piece of art. As I am writing this down, I must recognize that, my understanding of human psychology has significantly grown. I can now testify that, in order to derive the exact meaning presented in a piece of art I have to relate it to the on-going events in the surrounding. The art will also be understood through associating the themes presented in it to some events that took place in the past and stored in the observer’s brain. Gestalt Principles of Closure, Similarity, and Proximity To this extent, I can acknowledge the fact that am very conversant with the various types of Gestalt principles. Particularly, I have gathered comprehensive information concerning principles of grouping in Gestalts that include Principles of Closure, Similarity, Proximity, and Dominate/Subordinate. The four principles relates to the overall observation in human nature. According to these principles, humans usually perceive objects as organized objects and patterns. The assertion, in this case, holds to the assertion that, the human mind has the capacity of disposition to see patterns in the stimulus based on certain rules and regulations. Throughout my studies, I have come to discover that, in the principle of closure, the viewer can be in a position to complete an incomplete pattern as long as there is sufficient information about the pattern. For instance, given an incomplete picture that is extensively described, one can be in a position to have a complete view of the image in his mind. According to the principle of proximity, stimuli that are close to each other in the same object are grouped together. On the other hand, stimuli that are far to each other are placed as two separate objects. For instance, individuals are fond of seeing clusters of dots on a page rather than seeing the larger number of the individual dots. In fact, the brain can put together any given elements rather than conceptualizing larger number of smaller stimuli, thus, allows individuals to understand and conceptualize any given piece of information. The principle of similarity has enabled me to understand that, the human brain can differentiate between overlapping and adjacent objects, even if they were based on resemblance. Overall, familiarizing one with the various Gestalt principles has enabled me to understand human ability in perceiving things. Principles of Design I appreciate that an excellent artwork must incorporate several important elements and principles of design. The various principles of design include variety, contrast, emphasis, repetition, balance, and rhythm. They are necessary because they do not only make a piece of art appealing, but also thrilling and compelling. Visual balancing is an important feature in all types of art; it facilitates equilibrium in relation to physical sense. An artist must apply different colors to an image, therefore, identifying various objects in a piece art. However, application of these colours must be balanced to create a visual stability. I have also come to realize the importance of rhythm as a principle of design in art. A rhythm is used to create a sensation of organized movement in an image. It is crucial in assisting viewers to understand various themes presented in the image. The principle of contrast is also an important asset in artwork. In fact, contrast specifically determines the overall appearance of an image. It emphasizes in different areas in a piece of art by using different colour effects such as light or dark colours. In most cases, use of contrast is used to describe the surrounding such as the clouds or vegetation. As already evident, the principle of design is an important aspect in art. It gives a viewer the reason to admire a piece of art. Through the combination of different colour effects that are well balanced between objects in art, there is the creation of different themes that makes an image becomes meaningful to the viewer. Semantic Denotation and Connotation In this study, I was exposed to various forms of semantics (denotation and connotation). Semantic determines the significance of signs in most communities and cultures all over the world. While that is the case, semantic denotation incorporates giving an exact meaning of a word or visual or the cognitive meaning. Denotation is usually considered as the first level of analysis; that is, what a viewer is exposed to see first on a page. I have also realized that, denotation refers to something that is in literal form, in this case, denotation completely avoids being metaphorical. On the other hand, I understand what exactly connotation in semantic means. The connotation is usually the implied personal or emotional associations in words or visuals; it is usually a second level of analysis that the denotation represents. The following examples were important in assisting me find out the difference between denotation and connotation. To start with, describing a flower. When it is said to be a red rose flower with a green stem the meaning, in this case, is regarded as denotation. However, when the flower is said or rather seen as a symbol of love and passion, this can be referred as connotation. Describing a cross-drawn on paper, the denotation, in this case, is a brown cross. The connotation is when the cross is seen as a symbol of religion or Christianity. It can, therefore, be concluded that, in denotation, the viewer or rather the audience is concerned with the surface meaning of the object presented on a piece of paper. However, in connotation, the audience seek to find the exact meaning of the piece of art given in the paper. Semiotic Pragmatic So far, I can confidently boast of having gathered sufficient knowledge about Semiotics. Semiotics pertains to the philosophical study of meaning of symbols and signs. In semiotic pragmatic, images are related to their perceived meaning. For instance, an image of a dessert will try to give the actual features presented in the actual desert. It is, therefore, evident that, semiotic pragmatic ideally incorporates likeness, analogy, and symbolism, metaphor, in its communication. I have also come to understand how semiotics is transmitted and how they differ from linguistics. During transmission, signs are classified about how they will be delivered or transmitted to the recipient. What makes semiotics different from linguistics is that, semiotics usually generalizes the perception of a sign to include signs in various forms or sensory modality. In other words, semiotics has succeeded in broadening the relationship between signs and the range of signs. In addition to this, it has extensively extended the meaning of communication to amount to one of the widest metaphorical sense. I have also come to understand several fields within which semiotics finds applications. They are used in providing a methodology for the analysis of texts. It is also used in the improvement of ergonomic design. In this case, it is used to ensure that human beings are in a position to interact effectively with their surroundings. Briefly, semiotics pragmatic provides an essential platform that boost human understanding of the surrounding. It makes use of signs and symbols in it communication. It differs from linguistics in that; it provides a wide range and definition of signs. Gestalt Principles of Dominate/Subordinate Gestalt Principles of Dominate has been discussed in details throughout the course. It is very important to remember that Gestalt focuses on the contextual nature and the visual perception of things. For this reason, therefore, it has been easy for me to understand the concept of dominant presented in Gestalt Principles; it is the fact that, in most of my lessons in class, my lecturer has extensively exhausted the other Gestalt principles such as proximity, similarity, and balance. My understanding has also been facilitated by the fact that am too much into art and therefore very willing to compliment the little knowledge I have in art and psychology. Gestalt Principles of Dominate is concerned with the ability of an observer to view things. The principle seeks to find out what necessary comes into one’s mind after coming across a new design. The principle also have wanted to explain what is usually the first thing an observer will see after looking a drawing on a piece of paper. According to this theory, the human brain in relation to the eye creates a focal point on a piece of design; this is what the principle of dominance is all about in Gestalt. Dominance is created through the emphasis of one or more elements in the design. Therefore, an entry point is created through dominance on a piece of paper; the entry point will then lead the observer to other parts of the drawing on the paper. It can be concluded that, the principle of dominate is concerned with only one important element of observation: what the viewer sees first in a design that is situated on a piece of paper before viewing the other parts of the paper. Syntactic During the study of syntactic, I was exposed to immense knowledge regarding sentence structures. Syntactic have found different meaning and definitions. However, according to Merriam-Webster dictionary, syntactic refers to a set of principles, rules or processes that controls the arrangement of sentences in a certain language. According to many studies, the main objective of syntactic has always been to establish the common rule and principle that is common to all languages used in communication. I have also come to understand that, syntactic considers generative grammar as the language of structure in the human mind. In this case, the main aim of syntactic is to come up with a comprehensive language that denotes a human inner language, psychologically referred as I-language. For this reason, the study of syntactic has been essential in predicting the grammaticality of human utterances. More so, it is used to predict whether the utterances made by an individual are grammatically correct to the native speakers of that particular language. While there are many theories exhausted in syntactic, I found this theory very interesting: dependency grammar. In this theory, the approach to a sentence structure is viewed as syntactic units, which are arranged in order of dependency relation. In a sentence structure, dependencies are usually directed links between words in a formal sentence. Overall, syntactic is the study of sentence structures. The study is usually concerned with the relationship that exists between words in a sentence. Also in syntactic, one is exposed to common grammatical errors that usually occur in sentences during utterances. The errors are easily identifiable when a native citizen is talking with a non-native citizen. The Synectic Trigger Mechanism During this study, I had the chance to go through several tools used in creative thinking. The mentioned tools did help me in a number of ways. I was exposed to several skills that greatly boosted by way of analysing, evaluating, and presenting scenarios. Am particularly grateful about this topic for the fact that, how I used to view events will never be the same again. To start with, I have learnt the need to subtract and add points while presenting argumentation on a particular subject. It is always very crucial to think deeply in order to establish what can be removed or added to a topic of discussion. The idea is particularly important when one wants to simplify or to compress ideas in a topic; it is also helpful in those instances when one need to insert very strong points to a topic of study. Diagram or a pictorial representation is highly required, of the viewer, to repeat the observation for a number of times. Specifically, this facilitates a better understanding of art. One must reiterate, echo, duplicate and restate the idea presented in a presentation. That way, one will not only come up with the meaning of the presentation, but also its accurate meaning. Other important tools used during observation and communication include combine, transfer, animate, empathise, superimpose, isolate, and contradict. The Information presented in this discussion has greatly assisted me in a number ways during my studies and in communication. I will appreciate the various tools of critical thinking presented in this case. Throughout my life, in college and after, I will be a responsible businessperson or parent. Read More