Cat's Cradle Is An Example of Art with Aesthetic Value - Essay Example

This is because, the Cats Cradle photo shows the picture of a child entangled in a diamond shaped structure. The child is tied up to the structure by hands and feet. The photo is meant to generate a feeling of lifelessness and imprisonment (Gilmore, 290). There is no way the child in the photo can get out of the entanglement since he is completely tied up to the structure. To qualify as having artistic value, any artwork must wholesomely conquer with that purpose. If for any reason there is some part of the art work that fails to constitutively show the desired purpose, then that part is a defect to the artwork (Gilmore, 293).

In the Cats Cradle by Charles White, the whole artwork depicts the same purpose, lifelessness, and imprisonment, without any part indicating any other purpose in contrast to this. Thus, the photo fully achieves it artistic value. The functionality of the artwork is what qualifies its artistic value. The artwork can have several functions to that effect. Since the function of the Cats Cradle by Charles White is to show the lack of freedom of the child entangled in the diamond shaped structure, then the function is well met and supports the artistic value of the photo.

The child is seated at the base of the structure. Both legs are widespread and tied up to the edges of the structure. The hands of the child are also tied up and connected to the feet. Considering the nature of the structure that the child in the photo is placed in, there is no way it can get out, since the apex of the structure is narrow and closed up, while the base, which can act as the only exit is used to tie up the child. Therefore, the artistic value portrayed here is that achieving freedom and a new life for the child in the photo is impossible.

The intention of the creator of an artwork is what gives it its constitutive function (Lopes, 520). Since the photo Cats Cradle by Charles White is placed in the context of the novel by an American writer, Kurt Vonnegut,