A World of Art - Essay Example

?A World of Art The world is received in the eyes of the individual and the artist in a number of ways. The creation of The Gates by Christo and Jean-Claude is a piece of art that attained different perspectives as well as ignited a variety of perspectives from the individual that differed from the artist. The husband-and-wife team intended for the statue to invoke a sense of the city by it mirroring the layout of New York City blocks (Sayre, 2007, p. 2). They also donated it to an environmental organization. The public viewed this as an addition to rebuilding New York City after the tragedy of 9/11, and its reception boosted the economy (Sayre, 2007, p. 2). On the other hand, there were complaints about the materials used to build it because it clashed with the park. They viewed the metals as being “an intrusive violation of the natural landscape” (Sayre, 2007, p. 2). Not only did the artwork symbolize emotions of the public, but it also encapsulated the park because its name The Gates goes along with the original creators of the park who envisioned gates at every entrance (Sayre, 2007, p. 3). The point of these examples is to show how an artist may intend for their artwork to be received in one way since it is how they see it, but it is not. Every artist, every individual differs from one another and he or she absorbs, views, creates the world in his or her unique point-of-view. There are as many meanings in art as there are a variety of personalities and beliefs in people. 2. Abstract, or nonobjective, artwork is defined as a nonrealistic illustration that does not portray an established, familiar part of the universe like person, place or thing. In order to classify it, it has to be viewed in terms of brush strokes, color, etc. For example, Westerners find it hard to assign Erna Motna’s painting to landscape because it is abstract (Sayre, 2007, p. 8). Representational, or realistic, in terms of art is defined as describing a work of art that is a universally recognizable dictation by everyone. An example of this would be an illustration of the Empire State Building. Everyone understands this to be a famous part of New York City just by viewing the artwork. The association between the art and a real landmark, person or thing is what makes it representational. Form and content’s meaning can be described as a vital definition of the term art. Form is an element of art, the rules of intention and even items, or tools, an artist uses. It takes on a physical form. Content differs from this in that it is an idea, or expression by the artist. Both function as two parts, or halves of art. An example of this is Malevich’s painting (Sayre, 2007, p. 11). The term ethnocentric, or ethnocentrism, revolves around the belief that one’s own culture is superior to all others, and this pertains to art in that the artist creates an illustration with the intention of portraying his or her own culture in the best possible light. It is also about how “different cultures possess different visual conventions and do not easily understand each other’s conventions” (Sayre, 2007, p. 28). Iconography is the science of determining, classifying and understanding specific factors or themes in a piece of visual art. It maintains the artwork’s original meaning rather than it be reaffirmed by current society because current society may not understand the reasoning behind specific elements in the artwork. Iconography studies the visual or symbolic images in the time it was created like in Jan van Eyck’s painting The Marriage of Giovanni Arnolfini and Giovanna Cenami (Sayre, 2007, p. 31). Photorealism evolved from American Pop Art and it can be defined as art that has been reproduced to mimic photography, or the way a camera captures images. Art by Chuck Close pertains to photorealism. Surrealism was an artistic movement that means using art to portray an expression of the unconscious mind. “Surrealism is a style of art in which the reality of the dream, or the subconscious mind, is seen as more ‘real’ than the surface of reality of everyday life” (Sayre, 2007, p. 44). An example of this would be Salvador Dali’s The Persistence of Memory painting (Sayre, 2007, p. 44). Aesthetic Art is art that evokes sensory emotions in the viewer. It is a philosophy that highlights beauty in all five senses of the human body. “For many people, the main purpose of art is to satisfy our aesthetic sense, our desire to see and experience the beautiful” (Sayre, 2007, p. 49). 3. Lorna Simpson is a photographer who captures society’s positive and negative receptions of itself, including the way society’s members interact with one another. “She [Simpson] consistently challenges the relations between words and images” (Sayre, 2007, p. 20). In her famous work, She, Simpson makes the correlation between text and meaning. Without the title She or the subtitle female, the individual may not recognize what is happening in the photos. The figure, a black woman, is not easily understood to be female without the word descriptions. It could be an illustration of an interviewer rather than a portrayal of how society treats black woman: inferior and faceless. Simpson explains that the point of her work is to expose how private matters in a person’s life are performed publicly (“Lorna Simpson,” 2007, 3:12-3:21). She says, “Within those different environments [apartment building, parked car, hotel room] the work is kind of focusing on private activities that take place in public spaces” (“Lorna Simpson,” 2007, 3:15-3:21). Guillermo Gomez-Pena is an artist of multiple different facets. His work revolves around performance art, poetry and journalism to name a few. Gomez-Pena dives into and uncovers the issues of cross-culture and immigration through his art (“Guillermo Gomez-Pena,” 2001, ¶1-2). How do races interact when they are thrown into the ‘mixing pot’? His art centers on minorities acting as the default dominant society while the mainstream is considered to be rare, even unrecognizable. Gomez-Pena explains a piece of his work: A performance installation titled Temple of Confession…We combine the format of the sub-ethnographic diorama with that of the dramatic religious dioramas displayed in Mexican Catholic Churches, and decided to exhibit ourselves inside plexiglass boxes as both cultural specimens and holy creatures. (“Gomez-Pena,” 2007, 2:08-2:33) He turns reality on its side by incorporating English and Spanish with real-world aspects or fictional ones. Simpson and Gomez-Pena are similar in that they both utilize language and words to connect their artwork to the individual. They feature real cultural expressions and actions then mirror that back to society. How they do that, however, is where they differ from each other. Simpson does not stray from the realism she devotes to capture and expose. Her pictures depict images that are unchanged by her, except in the stage of printing. Gomez-Pena absorbs real-world issues but does not always maintain its natural state. He chews it up and spits it back out in a unique and self- expression of how ‘it should be.’ He challenges society’s views of itself, whereas Simpson shows it the way it is originally. References Guillermo Gomez-Pena. (2001). In Pocha Nostra. Retrieved March 9, 2011, from http://www.pochanostra.com/antes/jazz_pocha2/mainpages/bios.htm Sayre, H. M. (2007). A World of Art (5th ed., pp. 1-50). Prentice Hall, AL: Upper Saddle River. Sayre, H. M. (Writer). (2007). A World of Art: Guillermo Gomez-Pena [Motion picture]. Annenberg/CPB Project. Sayre, H. M. (Writer). (2007). A World of Art: Lorna Simpson [Motion picture]. Annenberg/CPB Project. Read More