ArtAp 10 - ■ Art celebrates war and conquest,

Module 0 and sometimes peace.

Introduction to Art - ■ Art is a means for protesting
A HUMAN PHENOMENON political and social
Dona Schlesier and Margaret Lazzari - injustice.
- Art is strictly a human phenomenon. - ■ Art promotes cohesion within a
- Only Human Beings create art to social group.
understand life better/communicate - ■ Art records the likenesses of
emotions to others individuals and their
- It is primarily a visual medium that - environment.
expresses ideas about our human - ■ Art educates us about ourselves
experience and the world around us and the world
- It engages our attention in a way - around us.
that our everyday environment - ■ Art entertains.
cannot B. Visual Form
- Allows us to originate something - Art has a visual form that allows the
What is art? → What is art for whom and work to be seen and touched, and its
when? ideas to be communicated (includes
- Art is whatever society or culture formal elements like lines, volumes,
says is art (the definition of art is not etc.) materials matter as well
universal or fixed) C. Content
4 Major Areas of what Art is - Art has content, which is the mass of
A. Function ideas associated with each artwork
- art, at the time it was made, is and communicated through its
intended to do a job within a culture imagery, symbolic meaning,
- Can function as cultural records that surroundings, customs, and beliefs.
can tell us about existing and past Status, and writings
cultures - Content can both be immediately
- ■ Art assists us in rituals that apparent and require considerable
promote our spiritual or physical study
well-being.
- ■ Art reflects customs related to D. Aesthetics
food, shelter, and human - Art is an aesthetic experience
reproduction. *Aesthetics is a branch of philosophy
- ■ Art communicates thoughts, ideas, that deals with art, its sources, its
and emotions. forms, and effects
- ■ Art gives us pictures of deities, or - Aesthetics is a critical reflection on
helps us conceive of art within a culture and reflects the
- what divinity might be. preferences of a large segment of
- ■ Art serves and/or commemorates the culture’s population
the dead. Creating Art
- ■ Art glorifies the power of the state ● Perception, Response, and
and its rulers. Expression
 - The visual perception that is Definitions of fine art are in flux when
required for making or looking at art Western people look at art from other
is focused and concentrated. cultures
Art is designed to be arresting, to engage It has also expanded to include film,
our attention, to make us look and be aware performance, computer art, etc.
of our act of looking, and be enriched B. Popular Culture
- All artwork reflects the artists’ - Magazines, movies, TV shows, etc
response to the world (their POV, - Popular Art is often perceived as
values and individual experiences) being more accessible, inexpensive,
Art reflects humankind’s perceptions of and entertaining, commercial, political,
responses to all aspects of spiritual life and naive, and colorful
earthly life - It reflects the values and structures
- Each artist/culture might express of our societal social systems
these life experiences differently Some objects from popular culture
Art is differently expressed through the eventually “become” art
creator's response * Kitsch - a subcategory of popular culture.
● Artistic Creativity It is by comparison shallow/pretentious or
- Creativity allows us to originate overly calculated to be popular.
something or to cause some object - Objects and images are
to come into being. kitsch if they display an
*In the US creativity requires: Innovation emotional appeal that is
and Self-Expression (not necessarily the generalized, superficial, and
case since artists can follow formulas etc) sentimental; does not provide
- Creativity can be a complex mix of an original experience
old and new C. Craft
*Contemporary Artists believe that creative - Refers to specific media (ceramics,
process starts with a formative woodworking, jewelry, glass,
stage(response), vivid weaving)
experience/commission, research, and - Usually making objects rather than
experimentation, and the creation of artwork images; may involve surface
*Creativity has a social dimension. Support decoration; may have a utilitarian
from others allows for creativity to bloom purpose
Categories of Visual Art - They display aesthetic and/or
A. Fine Art conceptual dimensions that go
- Is a Western category of refined beyond mundane use
objects considered to be among the Stylistic Categories
supreme cultural achievements of Style is the manner of artistic expression
the human race characteristic either of an individual artist,
- Transcend average human works historic period, or an entire civilization
and may be produced by only the
best artists with unique sensibilities Style Vocabulary
- What is displayed in art museums 1. Art is Naturalistic
- Generally contains
recognizable imagery that is
 depicted very much as seen appearance of things in the
in nature natural world
2. Art is representational ● Abstract imagery may
- It contains entities from the or may not be
world in recognizable form recognizable, but it
3. Idealized art is modified naturalistic has been derived
way from reality by
- Strives for perfection within distorting, enlarging,
the bounds of the values and and/or dissecting
aesthetics of a culture objects and figures
4. Expressive or Expressionist from nature nut it is
- Communicate heightened still representational
emotions and often a sense Cultural Styles
of urgency or spontaneity - Consists of recurring and distinctive
- Bold and immediate; features that we see in many works
distorted or abstract; of art emanating from a particular
asymmetrical or off balance; place or era
textured surface and thick - Reflect and express the cultures
paint application from which they come
5. Classical Art - Evolves
- Orderly, balanced, clear, and Culture
well proportioned - Can mean the totality of
- Can also describe a point in ideas, customs, skills, and
evolution of styles: classical arts to a particular group or
works represent the full people
development of a certain - May also be a particular
style group or people
Classical refers to the aer made in ancient Civilization
Greece in the 5th centure BCE - A highly structured society
6. Surreal Artistic Style
- Refers to art with - The distinguishing characteristics of
bizarre/fantastic arrangement one artist’s works
of images/ materials, as if 1. "Art is strictly a human phenomenon” as
tapping into the workings of asserted by Dona Schlesier and Margaret
the unconscious mind Lazzari in their book Exploring Art: A Global,
- Undermines the pleasuresof Thematic Approach. Do you agree or
two senses in a dreamlike disagree with the arguments supporting
way their claim? What are the functions of art in
7. Nonobjective human society that you can resonate with
- Art contains imagery that is within the Philippine context?
completely generated by the - I do agree with the statement that art
artist is strictly a human phenomenon. For
- Contains invented imagery art to be an art, by definition, it
that does not imitate requires to have a function, content,
 visual form, and aesthetic. These - The study of aesthetics is not
four major aspects, i believe, can essentially about beauty but "critical
only be achieved through a human. reflection on art within a culture and
We’ve seen videos of animals doing reflects the preferences of a large
art but we know that these animals segment of the culture’s population";
are heavily influenced and guided by also suggests that the study of
humans. They can create art but not beauty "goes beyond individual
on their own volition. I believe that tastes or preferences"
art is a human phenomenon since it - aesthetics is a "critical reflection on
is our way of expressing ourselves art" also suggests that the study of
and finding meaning in the natural beauty "goes beyond individual
world. Art is seen, felt, produced tastes or preferences" Though
and defined through ones own beauty is mostly subjective, there
intention/work. One prominent are aspects of it as 'objective.'
example was during the campaign of - Though beauty is mostly subjective,
Leni robredo. Art was seen there are aspects of it as 'objective.'
allthroughout the PH Leni-Kiko David Hume 1711-1776
murals were visible everywhere Of the Standard of Taste (1757)
which relates back to the function of Republished in Hume’s Essays Moral,
art which is the promotion of Political and Literary, 1777
cohesion within a group. Art can 1. What does Hume understand by a
unite people as well inspire people. standard of taste in the arts?
Art, in this context, kept us hopeful ● Beauty and Deformity are NOT
Module 1 qualities of (or in) objects as, for
Encountering Art instance, the shape is.
Objective VS Subjective ● Whether an object is judged
Object - something which is metaphysical, beautiful depends on the FEELINGS
real, and existing independent of our of observers.
perception of it. ● The Standard of Taste determines
Subject - something which observers, WHICH feelings are the appropriate
usually a person of some kind ones to experience and WHOSE
Objective - if it is independent of our judgment is best
opinions on it. It exists without observation. But how can there be a standard with
A property is objective if particular objects regard to the feelings or sentiments
can have that property regardless of any of different human beings?
subject’s opinion about the objective. Consider Colours: even if colours only exist
Subjective - means that it depends on a in the mind, we possess a STANDARD for
subject for its existence or properties. Our judging the true colour of an object
perception of a particular object gives it Similarly, we can have a standard for
particular properties. judging the beauty of an object – even
- Beauty is subjective. There is no though it is determined by the feelings of
universal standard of beauty after (some) observers
the 18th and 19th century In each case, we can justify our judgments
on the basis of the sensations or feelings of
a standard judge: a standard colour judge - May contain their own visual
(for colours) and a true critic (for beauty) vocabulary and symbolisms (textiles,
Five conditions which are required for or embroidery, etc.)
associated with being a ‘true critic’ : - Colors are also conveyors of
1. The Delicacy of Taste, meaning
2. Lack of Prejudice, - It is not enough to appreciate their
3. Practice, beauty and skill of execution but also
4. Comparison, examine their conditions of
5. Good Sense. production (These involve the
community’s difficult struggle to
Critical - involving making fair, careful maintain its identity
judgments about the good and bad qualities - One can also distinguish world views
of somebody/something and value-systems distinct from
READING THE IMAGE those of urban western-influenced
Alice Guillermo societies
She highlights the importance of the - Olrality and literacy are not in
complex interrelatedness of the intellectual, opposition, nor does one necessarily
emotional, and sensory specifications being replace the other. These two modes
conveyed by the artist through one's chosen of expression exist simultaneously
medium, symbols/signs, subject matter, and and complement each other
personal context. The viewer, on the other II. Images in Everyday life
hand dialogues with the artwork and brings - Disseminated in the print and TV
one's context in the reception and reading of media
the work--cultural background, artistic - Convey values and attitudes
exposure and training, and human favorable to certain social
experience. In this vein, the task of the text groups/classes
reveals something more about the viewer - These values and attitudes are
rather than the artwork itself. conveyed covertly through
subliminal inducements or hidden
Kinds of images produced in society today: persuaders that operate semiotically
I. Images in the Traditional Arts III. Images in Contemporary Arts
- Often articles of everyday life - Founds in painting, sculpture,
combining design and function drawings, illustrations, cartoons,
- May bear images in the form of posters, murals, photographs, and
symbols and motifs, which may film
convey narratives of communal - Conveyed through various media
significance - Can either be representational or
- Most are drawn from the nonrepresentational or a fusion of
natural world and reflect the both
close relationship between - Represents reality
humans and nature in the
animist world view
- Juxtaposed/arranged in a
meaningful series