2. Learning ObjectivesLearning Objectives
1. Differentiate between passive and
active seeing.
2. Define the creative process and
describe the roles that artists most
often assume when they engage in
that process.
3. Discuss the different ways in which
people value, or do not value, works of
art.
3. IntroductionIntroduction
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• Cai Guo-Ziang utilized gunpowder as an
artistic medium in his Project to Extend
the Great Wall of China by 10,000
Meters..., which created an explosion
that formed an ephemeral red line.
Gunpowder was an essential Chinese
medium; instead of using it for
destruction, the artist wished to bring
people together through the beauty of
the pyrotechnic display.
4. Cai Guo-Qiang, Project to Extend the Great Wall of China by 10,000 Meters: Project for
Extraterrestrials No. 10.
Realized in the Gobi desert, February 27, 1993, 7:35 pm.
Photo by Masanobu Moriyama, courtesy of Cai Studio. [Fig. 1-1]
5. IntroductionIntroduction
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• For the Olympic Games in 2008, Cai
was chosen to direct the visual and
special effects for both opening and
closing ceremonies.
A trail of 29 "footprints of history" made
in fireworks was fired across the sky
between Tianenmen Square and the
Olympic Stadium, the Bird's Nest.
6. Cai Guo-Qiang, Footprints of History: Fireworks Project for the Opening Ceremony of the
2008 Beijing Olympic Games.
2008.
Photo by Hiro Ihara, courtesy of Cai Studio. [Fig. 1-2]
8. IntroductionIntroduction
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• For the Olympic Games in 2008, Cai
was chosen to direct the visual and
special effects for both opening and
closing ceremonies.
However, the work was aired as a video
rather than live due to the conditions of
smog in Beijing.
• Cai believed the video was necessary,
and considered it a second work of art.
9. The World as We Perceive ItThe World as We Perceive It
• Objections to Cai's Footprints of History
mainly centered around the violation of
trust regarding a digital film being
broadcast instead of the "real thing."
• Many of us assume that we can trust
our eyes to give us accurate
information and an understanding of
the world.
10. The Process of SeeingThe Process of Seeing
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• Visual processing can be divided into
reception, extraction, and inference.
The human retina "edits" information
perceived from external sources.
• Seeing is inherently creative, as you
decide what details are important.
11. The Process of SeeingThe Process of Seeing
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• Trompe-l'oeil is a technique literally
meaning "trick the eye."
Richard Haas is a painter known for
such architectural murals, such as the
one on the west facade of the Oregon
Historical Society.
• Stored visual information can also trick
a viewer, even for images seen on a
regular basis, such as the American
Flag.
13. Active SeeingActive Seeing
• Jasper Johns's Flag takes a familiar
image and examines it more closely.
It was painted during the Cold War era,
a time when America obsessed over
patriotism through McCarthyism and the
Space Race.
Audiences were disturbed by newspaper
scraps visible beneath the surface.
15. Active SeeingActive Seeing
• Faith Ringgold's God Bless America was
created during the Civil Rights
movement.
Here, the stripes have been turned into
prison bars and the star becomes a
sheriff's badge.
The white woman is portrayed as both
patriotic and racist, a prisoner of
bigotry.
17. The World as Artists See ItThe World as Artists See It
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• Cai did not choose to go to Dunhuang
simply to extend the end of the Great
Wall of China; the area was the place
where East and West first intersected.
A terra-cotta figure from the Tang
dynasty shows a Bactrian camel that
would have transported goods.
The region also has the greatest
collection of early Chinese art.
19. The World as Artists See ItThe World as Artists See It
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• Legend has it that a cave-temple was
dug by a Buddhist monk named LeSun,
over the years becoming more
decorated until it was recognized in the
fourteenth century as the Mogao
Caves.
492 of these caves are decorated with
murals, together about 40 times longer
than the walls in the Sistine Chapel.
22. The Creative ProcessThe Creative Process
• Artists engage in critical thinking.
They respond to the unexpected, chance
occurrences and are open to new ways
of thinking.
The artist manages the process from
seeing to imagining to making,
becoming self-critical and exploring the
possibilities of their work.
23. Art and the Idea of BeautyArt and the Idea of Beauty
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• Aesthetics refer to our sense of what
is beautiful and vary across cultures
over time.
• Western culture values order,
regularity, proportion, and design,
which are hallmarks seen through
Classical art and architecture.
Mountain ranges were dismissed until
the nineteenth century in the U.S.
24. Art and the Idea of BeautyArt and the Idea of Beauty
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• The human body is also a widely
contested source of beauty.
Imagine tall, slender fashion models
compared to Peter Paul Rubens's fleshy
nudes.
Pablo Picasso's representations of
women are almost demonic, segmented
and abstracted in a battle between
attraction and repulsion.
26. Roles of the ArtistRoles of the Artist
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1. Artists make a visual record of the
people, places, and events of their
time and place.
The art of portraiture reflects a desire to
record what the artist sees visually.
Mickalene Thomas paints portraits of
contemporary African-American women
in poses evoking odalisques, similar to
Manet's Olympia.
29. Roles of the ArtistRoles of the Artist
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1. Artists make a visual record of the
people, places, and events of their
time and place.
Portrait of Mnonja was sold to the Akron
Art Museum and featured hundreds of
rhinestones.
• The anamorphic cat directly references
the black cat opposite Olympia's feet in
Manet's work.
30. Roles of the ArtistRoles of the Artist
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1. Artists make a visual record of the
people, places, and events of their
time and place.
Olympia was also reflective of its time,
though Manet's audience did not wish to
acknowledge it as anything but
appalling.
31. The Creative ProcessThe Creative Process
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• From Sketch to Final Vision:
Pablo Picasso's Les Demoiselles
d'Avignon
An early sketch conceived five
prostitutes and two men in the work.
• By removing the male figures, he more
fully engages the audience in the scene.
Picasso rejects any traditional notion of
beauty in the women's forms.
33. The Creative ProcessThe Creative Process
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• From Sketch to Final Vision:
Pablo Picasso's Les Demoiselles
d'Avignon
Originally, all figures looked like the
middle two.
• African masks inspired the new look of
the emotionally-charged figures.
The impossible multiple points of view
present the painting as an ambiguity of
experience.
36. Roles of the ArtistRoles of the Artist
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2. Artists help us see the world in new or
innovative ways.
Cai Guo-Qiang's work was designed to
transform viewers' experience of the
world.
Prior to his work, Ken Gonzalez-Day
researched the history of lynching in
California, finding Native Americans,
Chinese immigrants, and Latinos were
lynched more than other groups.
38. Roles of the ArtistRoles of the Artist
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2. Artists help us see the world in new or
innovative ways.
The photograph "At daylight..."
transforms our view of an oak tree that
is at once mossy, tangled, and majestic
and the site of violent deaths.
39. Roles of the ArtistRoles of the Artist
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3. Artists make functional objects and
structures (buildings) more
pleasurable and elevate them or
imbue them with meaning.
The sculpture of a film projector by
Kane Kwei and his workshop functions
as a coffin.
• In Ghana, coffins celebrate a successful
life with ritual significance.
41. Roles of the ArtistRoles of the Artist
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3. Artists make functional objects and
structures (buildings) more
pleasurable and elevate them or
imbue them with meaning.
Public space features standards of
aesthetic beauty.
Self-sufficiency, sustainable building
materials, and suitability to climate and
culture exemplify "green architecture."
42. Roles of the ArtistRoles of the Artist
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3. Artists make functional objects and
structures (buildings) more
pleasurable and elevate them or
imbue them with meaning.
The Jean-Marie Tjibaou Cultural Center,
named for a leader of the Kanak people,
features buildings of wood and bamboo.
• Architect Renzo Piano utilized the nearby
ocean breeze in a design that cooled the
inner rooms of the pavilions.
44. Roles of the ArtistRoles of the Artist
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4. Artists give form to the immaterial—
hidden or universal truths, spiritual
forces, personal feelings.
Western approach to works from
African, Oceanic, Asian, or Native
American cultures often relegates
everyday objects to "works of art."
• These objects may serve a utilitarian or
sacred function, a context far removed
from the Western lens.
45. Roles of the ArtistRoles of the Artist
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4. Artists give form to the immaterial—
hidden or universal truths, spiritual
forces, personal feelings.
The Nkisi nkonde from Kongo was used
to pursue witches, thieves, and
wrongdoers and activated by a
communicator driving pieces of iron into
the body of the figure.
• These figures represented animism, but
Europeans saw them as a threat.
46. Nkisi nkonde, Kongo (Muserongo), Zaire.
Late 19th century. Wood, iron nails, glass, resin, 20-1/4 × 11 × 8". The University of
Iowa Museum of Art.
Stanley Collection, X1986.573. Image courtesy of the University of Iowa Museum of Art
[Fig. 1-19]
47. Roles of the ArtistRoles of the Artist
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4. Artists give form to the immaterial—
hidden or universal truths, spiritual
forces, personal feelings.
Figures of minkonde are still made
today.
• Tania Brugeuera dressed as an nkonde in
a performance enacted in Havana and
the Neuberger Museum of Art in NY.
48. Tania Bruguera, Displacement.
1998–99. Cuban earth, glue, wood, nails, textile, dimensions variable. Still from film of
the original performance in Havana, Cuba, 1988, exhibited at the Neuberger Museum of
Art, New York, January–April 2010.
Courtesy of Tania Bruguera studio. [Fig. 1-20]
49. Roles of the ArtistRoles of the Artist
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4. Artists give form to the immaterial—
hidden or universal truths, spiritual
forces, personal feelings.
Images of God were protested through
Western history.
• Jan van Eyck depicted a frail, young,
merciful, and richly adorned God in his
Ghent Altarpiece.
52. Seeing the Value in ArtSeeing the Value in Art
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• Francis Bacon's Three Studies of Lucian
Freud was the most expensive artwork
ever sold in 2013.
This triptych was analogous to shooting
the same scene from three different
angles.
While interesting as a study, many
people find it hard to like and are
incredulous at its market value.
54. Seeing the Value in ArtSeeing the Value in Art
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• The art market depends on the
participation of wealthy clients.
• Major financial centers support the
most prestigious art galleries, auction
houses, and museums.
• Collectors are motivated mostly by the
pleasure of owning prestigious art.
55. Artistic Value and the "Culture Wars"Artistic Value and the "Culture Wars"
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• The value of art is not solely about
money, but intrinsic value.
• Robert Mapplethorpe
Mapplethorpe died a few months before
the slated exhibition of his work in the
Corcoran Gallery in Washington, D.C. in
1989.
His homoerotic, sadomasochistic, and
underage subjects evoked ire.
56. Artistic Value and the "Culture Wars"Artistic Value and the "Culture Wars"
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• Robert Mapplethorpe
Because of its subject matter, the show
was moved to a smaller gallery.
Later shows ran without incident until
police seized photographs at a Cincinnati
gallery, claiming criminal obscenity.
Testimony in the following trial focused
on formal qualities of each work.
57. Artistic Value and the "Culture Wars"Artistic Value and the "Culture Wars"
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• Robert Mapplethorpe
Ajitto, for example, shows the human
body with the geometry of a pentagon.
The jury eventually ruled that
Mapplethorpe's work possessed "serious
artistic value" in the context of the
tradition of arts confronting parts of our
lives that give us pain as well as
pleasure.
59. Artistic Value and the "Culture Wars"Artistic Value and the "Culture Wars"
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• Chris Ofili
The Holy Virgin Mary became a target
for outrage especially for its inclusion of
elephant dung in the depiction of a
religious figure.
The Catholic League for Religious and
Civil Rights encouraged people to picket
the museum and mayor Rudolph Giuliani
threatened to cut off the museum's city
subsidy.
61. Demonstration Against the 'Sensation' Art Exhibition outside the Brooklyn Museum, New
York, America – 1999.
Sipa Press/REX. [Fig. 1-25b]
62. The Avant-Garde and Public OpinionThe Avant-Garde and Public Opinion
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• The public tends to receive innovative
artwork with reservation because it has
little context to be appreciated.
• Marcel Duchamp's Nude Descending a
Staircase succeeded in scandalizing,
and received parody and ridicule
following its exhibition at the Armory
Show in 1913.
64. The Avant-Garde and Public OpinionThe Avant-Garde and Public Opinion
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• Duchamp studied and represented
Marey's Movement as well as studies of
animals and humans in motion by
Eadweard Muybridge.
• The National Endowment for the Arts
(NEA) endeavored to teach the public
how to see and appreciate "advanced
art."
65. The Avant-Garde and Public OpinionThe Avant-Garde and Public Opinion
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• Richard Serra's Tilted Arc was installed
with minimal negative reaction in 1981,
but faced removal in March 1985.
In March of 1989, it was stolen in the
middle of the night, dismantled and
subsequently destroyed.
The site-specific work lost its meaning
when it was removed
67. Political VisionsPolitical Visions
• If art appears to promote a specific
political or social agenda, it is bound to
face public disagreement.
• Michelangelo's David was designed to
be displayed atop the Piazza della
Signoria, signifying Florence's freedom
from foreign, papal, and Medici
domination.
Citizens also objected to its nudity.
69. The Critical ProcessThe Critical Process
Thinking about Making and SeeingThinking about Making and Seeing
Works of ArtWorks of Art
• Andy Warhol's Race Riot depicts events
of May 1963 when Bull Connor
employed attack dogs and fire hoses to
disperse civil rights demonstrators led
by Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.
• Which of the artist's roles was the most
important for creating this work?
71. Thinking BackThinking Back
1. Differentiate between passive and
active seeing.
2. Define the creative process and
describe the roles that artists most
often assume when they engage in
that process.
3. Discuss the different ways in which
people value, or do not value, works of
art.