Two Multimedia Presentations - Essay Example

This essay focuses on making connections between two multimedia presentations by Sylvan Lionni and Thelma Golden and an article on an interview between Susi Gablik and Hilton Kramer. The essay will provide a distinct observation of the materials, addressing multimedia presentation. This essay will also disclose Lionni’s studio practice and its reasons and respond to Lionni’s work focusing on how it makes one feel. The video Thelma Golden: How art gives shape to cultural change (Golden Web) explores art from a cultural perspective.

Thelma Golden, who is a curator at the studio museum in Harlem, makes use of works from post-black artists that she works with to demonstrate the role of art in redefining culture. When artists prepare culture-related works, they evoke dialogues about race and culture and may enhance understanding of a given culture. In the video, Thelma portrays art as a preexisting historical perspective that entails inventions to denote important historical occurrences. She uses various references, most of which are drawn from television shows.

She explains how such occurrences influenced her art. The multimedia presentation has inspired me greatly as it demonstrates the role art has played in establishing perceptions regarding black culture (Golden Web). Sylvan Lionni's work represents a new approach for abstract painters. The works include strikingly crafted mundane objects that are viewed in the course of ordinary days. Such objects include flowers, bags, and gridded printer tests. He makes use of already-existing ideas or forms to make drawings.

The paintings are neither allusions nor primary structures or pictures; they comprise a blend of everything. In my opinion, Lionni’s work possesses implicit objectivity. The paintings are characterized by extreme neatness and preciseness. As I looked at the works, a feeling of visual feedback was stimulated in me. At some point, it looked like the paintings were vibrating and instilled a feeling of awe in me. The feeling emanated from the way Lionni manages to infuse elegance in the simple objects we view daily (Sylvan Web).

Lionni’s work is exceptional in the way he manages to illuminate his objects to reflect both the lived and imagined form. A good example is the painting of monochromatic laundry bags, which illuminates the overlooked details by embedding conceptual properties on the objects. His practice is greatly based on social geometry (Sylvan Web; the University of Oregon Web). In the interview article, Lionni admits the great influence of geometric abstraction in his work. This is quite evident in the precise nature of his paintings.

Moreover, his studio practice entails connecting daily experiences with art. This view is quite similar to that of Golden, who bases most of her paintings on historical events that have been experienced. Lionni admits that there is some political association in his painting of the faded American flags. This depicts that Lionni does not object politicization of Art, just like Golden. Lionni's studio practice entails trying to find meaning through art. This view is contradictory to that of Kramer, who feels that trying to find any meaning through art is pointless (University of Oregon Web).

The other article was an interview with Susi Gablik and Hilton Kramer. The interview focuses on the meaning and future of art in a period characterized by increasing social changes. The two represent divergent ideas regarding the role of art in contemporary society. Gablik appreciates the increasing use of art to portray different views including political and environmental-related ideas. On the other hand, Kramer feels that the politicization of art is endangering the future of art. The interview was aimed at highlighting the opinions of the participants about the role of art.

Kramer argued that it was inappropriate to chain art to other purposes. In his opinion, art should never be used to air political or environmental issues. The only problems that art could resolve were aesthetic ones. This opinion is quite contradictory to that of Golden, who feels that art is capable of divulging different ideas effectively (Kramer 108-111). The focus of the article is on contemporary developments in the field of art where artists are increasingly using their works to advocate for environmental, social, and political changes.

Conservative artists like Kramer, who finds politicization of art inappropriate, have met the move differently. However, liberal artists consider such politicization as an indicator of the increasing role of art in society. A good example is Gablik and Golden who view art as a dynamic phenomenon. Moreover, they consider art to have numerous roles (Kramer 117-121; Golden Web). Conclusively, art has played a great role in the society. Golden feels that art has greatly redefined black culture through the representation of different occurrences.

Lionni is another artist who has made use of art to represent the mundane object observed in our daily lives. Kramer feels that the use of art to present political and environmental opinions is inappropriate and has endangered the future of art.