Response to Katie Sparagna's Question

Question: Is it possible for a dance to represent nothing or not be intentional?

 

 

Every move in dance is intentional. It's all in the works of how the body works and what the choreographer or dancer believes to fit with the music or count. It may not have an actually meaning most of the time, it can be an inspiration from another dancer or choreographer but it still has an intention for why it was chosen for this dance piece.   

Q&A #13: How is art cathartic on Aristotle's view?

    Art is a way of expressing emotion. It's like yoga, where you can let all your stress out. Like writing in a journal to let all your tears out. Like talking to a friend, to let out all your emotions and lessen your burden. People can do the same with art.

      In Aristotle's essay, The Poetics, he pretty much rambles on about the complexities of poems and their structures and the way they are written. Of course, he explains how there is always a reason for how the poem is the way it is. That's how art is too. It's a complex thing.

   Poetry is just like art in many ways though. In middle school and high school, I remember my English teachers hammering us about iambic pentameter and symbolism and a whole bunch of gibber-jabber. Every time I would think to myself, "Seriously, do these poets really think of all these things as they write it? Do they legit write out outlines and ideas, taking days to piece together such a simple poem about a flower to make it sound like death?"

    I know for sure that when I write poems, I don't think about any of these. I just worry about whether or not the poem makes sense. And then when I hand my poems into my teacher, I get comments back about how the structure isn't good enough, but then they would bring up about something entirely different, a detail in my poem that I would just refer to in a metaphor that my teacher would emphasize it, making the theme and meaning of my poem something entirely different.

    The same went with my pieces of art. When I was in elementary school, my art teacher would add to my show and tell at the end of every class of my drawing about the large amounts of blue or orange I would use in my pretty picture, emphasizing it to the extremes, sometimes, to the point where it seems like she's describing a painting from Van Gough. With all the words she put in my mouth, you'd think I was emotionally depressed when really, I had just gotten back from recess.

So....here's my question: Do you ever think that people over think things way to much and assume a piece of art work to be much more intentional than it actually is?

Museum Review of MASS MoCA's exhibition: Everything That Rises Must Converge

Petah Coyne

Everything That Rises Must Converge

      The exhibition, Everything That Rises Must Converge, created by Petah Coyne, portrays the theme of life and death. The choices of these works of art are chosen according to human nature. It reveals the joining of two opposite things, creating some sort of oxymoron that turns into ultimate chaos. The exhibition organized by title, which is created according to how the artist depicted strong emotion in the piece of art. Ironically, I saw a flock of birds fly by on my bike ride up to MASS MoCA, so when I entered the museum exhibit and saw all those birds trapped in dead blobs of roses, I felt something strong. I felt sad and trapped and felt a strong connection to the artist’s creation. I saw such innocent and free living creatures being swallowed up by a symbol of love and lust that is dead, decaying, black and evil.

Response to Katie Sparagna's questions:

1. How does the quality of the materials used in art effect it as a work of art?

2. Can make-up artist's really be artist's?

Coincidentally, my friend and I were looking at some make up ideas for a school event yesterday. We happened to be looking at the Youtube video tutorials of how to create certain designs on your face.

Not all companies produce the same makeup. It may look the same but the quality is different, which makes the product different from other companies. 

The quality of makeup definitely effects the outcome of how it looks on your face. If it's too powdery, it wont show up well, meaning that the color it looks in the bottle or container will look a lot lighter on your skin. If it's too liquid-y or chunky, it will come out blotchy. So you'd have to find the right makeup for the occasion. Makeup can also be labeled its quality of how long it lasts on skin and how your skin reacts to it. You can be messing with chemicals so makeup can have its risky side to it. If you were to go to a Halloween costume dance, dressed up as Lady Gaga, crazy clown or whatever, you'd want to get makeup that would stay on your skin long and wont bleed when you sweat. Plus you don't want to come back from a party, wash the makeup off and find welts all over your face that wont go away for weeks.

Makeup artists are artists. They pretty much paint on their temporary masterpiece on your face and you'd get the pleasure of displaying it where ever you go. 

Why does Piper maintain that performance art is alone partially unique?

In Adrian Piper's essay, Performance and the Fetishism of Art Objects, he explains his philosophical idea of how all art objects have their own uniqueness to it. Piper mostly focuses on art objects because of its solidity, structure and identity. When Adrian Piper states that performance art is alone partially unique, he means that the Performing Arts is something that can be only seen a few times, unlike art objects, which could be seen all the time by viewers and as many times they like. You can only enjoy a performing art at the moment, unless it is video taped, then it still wouldn't be looking at the same art, the video tape would be another piece of art itself.

Response to Sarah's Question:

Does cake have a place in sculptural studio art?

Sure! I mean, the kitchen is pretty much the studio, the dinning room is where the cake gets displayed to people and then eaten, just like a painting would (not including the getting eaten part). One thing I like about cake art is looking at one that looks like it is not edible when really it is. Take this cake from the television show Ace of Cakes for example:

Although this is a really weird idea for a birthday cake, the fact that it was created and made to look just like the actual Nikon camera makes it a piece of art. Like what Arthur Danto says about art, "....if art is imitation, mirror-images are art."

Here is another cake from another television show called Cake Boss.

Response to Hanna's Question:

Is it better to have a teacher, or let your skills develop organically?


From my point of view it should be your choice as to what you want. If you're clueless as to what you want, you should get help from a teacher. But if you know what you want to do, such as abstract art, and know how to reach that goal, of making abstract art, by yourself, than you should go for it by yourself.
Sometimes it's also good to learn by yourself yet get inspired by other people's art work. 
It is also good to be so involved in your piece of art that you make it personal. 

"When the artist loses himself in his art, then the art comes to life."
-Hazrat Inayat Khan

Another Sense in Art

Looking at my friend's new tattoo, I see how raw it looks and how much it hurt in the process. Another friend asked her if she bled a lot, which was the first time I've ever heard someone ask such a question. I never knew you could bleed when you got a tattoo. And thinking about it now, how much I badly want one I wonder if, as horrible and disgusting as it sounds, pain can be a part of art, or at least the thought of it.

There's also people that brand themselves (they prefer to use the term "scarification"). This type of body art used to be the rite of passage in the ancient times, where when one goes through this process, they become known as a real man or woman. Not to be gruesome or anything, this topic interests me. When you look as someone's tattoo, you usually look at the size first. And the first question everyone asks first is usually "Did it hurt?" And for me, I believe that the coolest looking tattoo is always the most largest and most painful-looking tattoo (on their back for example). And the thought of knowing that this person went through all that pain to get that tattoo done and finished on their very own skin makes it even more worth while to look at.

Knowing this and taking art to the next level I want to ask:
Does pain make art more interesting?

Response to Griffin's post:

"Can art truly be evil?"

To be honest with you, I am not a very religious person. When I read Griffin Thayer's post, I thought of the same thing. I thought about how people used to think of Rock & Roll music was evil, because of the mixing of "black people's" music and "white people's" music was bad; how anything to do with African Americans were bad because it said so in the bible. I guess it all depends on the time period though, to answer the question. Back then, the image of satan was evil. But now-a-days, people have satan on their arm as a tattoo. People with these tattoos would think of themselves as cool, or bad ass. As for those of you who are very religious (I apologize if I offend you), I would say that it also depends on your belief of whether or not you think a piece of art is evil.

Response to Sarah LaBaire's Questions

"Is it fair for me to say that television should have a place with art when it comes to philosophy?"

I personally don't watch TV as often as most people my age do. My parents encouraged me to do something more productive. But to answer Sarah's question, I believe television is another example of an art form. You might think that it's just something you watch and get hypnotized into the program, but don't forget to think of the production process and everything that comes with the entertainment. 

Today in class we discussed about aesthetic satisfaction in making art. When comparing this to television, I think of the producers and screenwriters who had put this television program together get the satisfaction of accomplishment and knowing that millions of people who watch this television program.

This goes along with advertising on TV also. The meaninglessness advertisements many people see in between shows and football games sometimes have that purpose of catching the audience's attention and keeping it to the end where it would leave the audience hanging as to what the advertisement had to do with the product they are selling. I actually like to watch advertisements from progressive with the sales woman named Flo. The person who created this add made it so that the point was made while still keeping the audience's attention.

I also believe that good art is something that can capture ones eye and emotionally satisfies the viewer's eyes. If this includes television and advertising, than those, too, are also a form of art.

Here is another commercial from Progressive:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPhq_gC9pZs 

Do you personally think advertising and television should be or is another form of art? Why?

Response to Kaylie Sweet: Is the Human Body Art?

A lot of people I know have piercings and tattoos. I remember in the past, reading an article about how people look at their bodies as a human canvas. There's this one guy who tattooed his whole body green with lizard-like scale designs, got his tongue split professionally to look like a lizard's tongue and who knows what else. Some people like this guy take it to the extreme or even over the line.

The Ancient Greeks made naked statues of human forms of their gods and goddesses, characters from myths and stories, or other important figures of their time. Their thought of divinity and beauty are mostly focused on the muscles in the body where the figure flexes in a contraposto pose. Even in today's society, we look at each others' figures and without knowing it, categorize one as attractive or unattractive. Some of us view our images in the mirror and criticize or comment ourselves. One could say, "I need to go to the gym" or "Damn, I look cute today" or even "Ugh, I look crappy today. Whatever, it's the weekend." The way we were our clothes could also be looked at as pretty much a decoration for our bodies, the way we evolved from togas to clothes lines from Hollister, Aeropostal, and Walmart and New Balance or Nike shoes.

Response to Amanda Olsen's Question: Do Doodles Count as Art?

Doodles do count as art, only it isn't looked at as something someone can call a masterpiece. Depending on how much effort you put into your doodle, it might be something awesome enough to be placed on your friend's dorm wall. Most doodles are small but the more you add to it or the bigger your doodle becomes, it would be noted by viewers as good art. I remember going to the store and finding bags and purses that have doodle designs on it and at Staples, you can find binders and folders with more doodle designs. If doodles can make it onto products people buy, it's proof enough that doodles can be art.

Art Appreciation

Why do people buy art work that is just a simple dot in the middle of the canvas for millions of dollars? What is the emotion there that people see? Is this painting really worth the million dollars or can you just simple "imitate" this same shape, color and paint?

Intentions of Defining Art

Question: What role does intentionality play in defining art?

Is art something someone intentionally does? Or is it done unintentionally? I believe art is done intentionally for the most part, only people misinterpret some objects as pieces of art when it is accidentally done.