Art(?) What are we appreciating?

What distinguishes Art? Human-made? Creation? Physical? An idea or intent? Limits/Parameters? A function? Beauty ? Skill?

Human-made?

Creation?

Physical?

An idea or intent?

Limits/Parameters?

A function?

Beauty ?

Skill?

Art is made up of: Form: Media, Style, Composition Content: Subject matter, Message, Iconography Context: Knowledge of artist, time & culture

Form: Media, Style, Composition

Content: Subject matter, Message, Iconography

Context: Knowledge of artist, time & culture

• Representational (Naturalistic, trompe l’oeil) Abstract (Stylized) Nonrepresentational/Nonobjective

• Representational (Naturalistic, trompe l’oeil)

Abstract (Stylized)

Nonrepresentational/Nonobjective

Paul McCarthy's sculpture "Complex Shit" (2008)

Banksy

“ Permanent Vacation” by Cory Arcangel Two unattended computers send endlessly bouncing out-of-office auto-responses to each other.

“ Permanent Vacation” by Cory Arcangel

Two unattended computers send endlessly bouncing out-of-office auto-responses to each other.

Cy Twombly ,Untitled , 1970 Crayon and house paint on paper 27 3/4 x 39 3/8 in. (70.5 x 100 cm)

JEAN ARP, Collage Arranged According to the Laws of Chance, 1916–1917. Torn and pasted paper, 1’ 7 1/8” x 1’ 1 5/8”. Museum of Modern Art, New York

Vik Muniz, “Pictures of Clouds”, 2001

Vik Muniz, “Pictures of Clouds”, 2001

‘ Alba’ is a transgenic albino rabbit: She contains a jellyfish gene that makes her glow green when illuminated with the correct light. Alba was created by French scientists who injected green fluorescent protein (GFP) of a Pacific Northwest jellyfish into the fertilized egg of an albino rabbit. Born in April 2000, the rabbit is part of a transgenic art project called “GFP Bunny” by Chicago artist Eduardo Kac. The project not only comprises the creation of the fluorescent rabbit, but also the public dialogue generated by the project and the integration of the transgenic animal into society. “ GFP Bunny” has raised many ethical questions and sparked an international controversy about whether Alba should be considered art at all….

Vs.

Figure 22-23 MARCEL DUCHAMP, Fountain, (second version), 1950 (original version produced 1917). Ready-made glazed sanitary china with black paint, 12” high. Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia

Jean Dubuffet “dhotel nuance d'abricot” Beauty?

French performance artist Orlan, who has dedicated herself to embodying classic beauty as found in the works of Leonardo, Botticelli and Boucher through multiple plastic surgeries Detail from The Birth of Venus , by Sandro Botticelli, 1486

Barry McGee aka Twist Context

Barry McGee aka Twist

Context

“ I use the pollen or the beeswax, which I did not create. I participate in the most beautiful things in the world, which I could never create. I could never create this beauty of the pollen. So the tragedy for me would be if I tried to make a painting out of pollen.“ “ for me, the sky is much more important than trying to make a painting that is a symbol for the sky. “

Wolfgang Laib Milk stone 1980 marble and milk 2.6 (h) x 91.9 (w) x 74.2 (d) cm

Martin Creed, Work No. 850, 2008 Work No. 850 centers on a simple idea: that a person will run as fast as they can every thirty seconds through the gallery in the Tate Britain. Each run is followed by an equivalent pause, like a musical rest, during which the grand Neoclassical gallery is empty.

Felix Gonzales-Torres,untitled, 1991

Tom Friedman 1,000 Hours of Staring 1992-97 stare on paper 32 1/2 x 32 1/2 in.

John Baldessari, “I will not make any more boring Art”, 1971

Possible definitions of Art: A perceptual shift A formal expression of a conceived image or imagined conception in terms of a given medium – Sheldon Cheney “Art makes looking worthwhile” (pg 28)

A perceptual shift

A formal expression of a conceived image or imagined conception in terms of a given medium – Sheldon Cheney

“Art makes looking worthwhile” (pg 28)

Chapter 2 What is Art? Audience/Context Notion of Beauty Representational/Naturalistic Abstract Non-representational Non-objective Form Content Aesthetics: Philosophy of meaning & nature of art

What is Art?

Audience/Context

Notion of Beauty

Representational/Naturalistic

Abstract

Non-representational

Non-objective

Form

Content

Aesthetics: Philosophy of meaning & nature of art

Fallacies about Contemporary Art – L Magazine, May 13, 2009 This work generated so much discussion it must be good Everybody talks about Lindsay Lohan, but this doesn’t lead people to conclude she is an excellent actor. Anything can be art! Duchamp didn’t make every shovel art, just the one he labeled. Value is completely subjective. There are methods of evaluating art, and just because viewers respond differently doesn’t mean they don’t exist. Anyone could do that. A sentiment typically refuted with the argument, “But you didn’t.

This work generated so much discussion it must be good

Everybody talks about Lindsay Lohan, but this doesn’t lead people to conclude she is an excellent actor.

Anything can be art!

Duchamp didn’t make every shovel art, just the one he labeled.

Value is completely subjective.

There are methods of evaluating art, and just because viewers respond differently doesn’t mean they don’t exist.

Anyone could do that.

A sentiment typically refuted with the argument, “But you didn’t.

Elitism rules the art world. the unspoken fallacy here, is that it doesn’t also rule every other field Pioneering artists are “ahead of their time.” Artists don’t have any special vision into the future; a few talented individuals will simply earn the unique burden of representing a strand of visual culture for the generation. I don’t know enough about art to talk about it. Anyone can discuss art well, few of us however look at it long enough to be able to do so. Trust your instincts, talk about what you see — don’t be afraid to be wrong. The beauty of an opinion is that you can change it as your response evolves.

Elitism rules the art world.

the unspoken fallacy here, is that it doesn’t also rule every other field

Pioneering artists are “ahead of their time.”

Artists don’t have any special vision into the future; a few talented individuals will simply earn the unique burden of representing a strand of visual culture for the generation.

I don’t know enough about art to talk about it.

Anyone can discuss art well, few of us however look at it long enough to be able to do so. Trust your instincts, talk about what you see — don’t be afraid to be wrong. The beauty of an opinion is that you can change it as your response evolves.