Art fundamentals ch01 introduction part 2 14-10-2017

1. Art Fundamentals
Chapter 1
Introduction
Part 2

2. ART  Many interpretations
FUNDAMENTALS  The basic fabric of art
The Need and Search for Art

3. What is your definition of
ART?
What “IS” art and what is
“NOT” art?
The Need and Search for Art
Discussion

4.  The formal expression of a conceived image in
terms of a given medium. (Cheney)
 The making of a form produced by cooperation
of all the faculties of the mind (Longman)
 Significant form (Bell)
The Need and Search for Art
Some Definitions of ART:

5.  A unified manifold which is pleasure-
giving (Mather)
 A diagram or paradigm with a meaning
that gives pleasure (Lostowel)
 Objectified pleasure (Santayana)
The Need and Search for Art
Definitions of ART:

6.  The formal expression of a conceived image in
terms of a given medium. (Cheney)
 The making of a form produced by cooperation
of all the faculties of the mind (Longman)
 Significant form (Bell)
The Need and Search for Art
Definitions of ART:

7.  A unified manifold which is pleasure-giving
(Mather)
 A diagram or paradigm with a meaning that
gives pleasure (Lostowel)
 Objectified pleasure (Santayana)
The Need and Search for Art
Definitions of ART:

9.  PLEASURE  a component of art.
 It is a different thing to different people.
 Art can be a relaxant or stimulant.
 For the artist, it can also produce
frustration and a sense of achievement.
The Need and Search for Art
PLEASURE

10.  AESTEHTICS  the appreciation of the
“beautiful”.
 Definitions of BEAUTY
 Historical cultures have
had their own concepts
of beauty, many of which
would not correspond to
contemporary tastes.
The Need and Search for Art
AESTEHTICS

11.  What does the public
often like and expect in
art?
 THREE THINGS:
 The familiar subject
 The recognizable subject
 The sentimental or
“pleasant” subject.
The Need and Search for Art
The PUBLIC

12.  Poorly executed
 Expertly executed
 Not all people, even with
similar backgrounds, would
agree on the “beauty” of a
given subject, much less its
interpretation.
The Need and Search for Art
The PUBLIC

13.  More concerned with the
“how” (the technique used to create
the work), than the “what” (the
final product)
 Art has always been
produced because an artist
has wanted to say something
and has chosen a particular
way of saying it.
The Need and Search for Art
The ARTISTS
Vincent Van Gogh

14.  Many people want
to be actively
engaged in art but
find that much of
what they see is not
meaningful to them.
The Need and Search for Art

15.  In order to gain
some appreciation
for the many forms
of art to which we
have access today,
we must understand
the basics from
which they have
grown.
The Need and Search for Art

16.  Understanding by
examining the
nature of the many
factors involved in
producing artworks,
including the
principles that
govern those
factors.
The Need and Search for Art

17.  Poorly executed
 Expertly executed
 Not all people, even with similar
backgrounds, would agree on
the “beauty” of a given subject,
much less its interpretation.
The Need and Search for Art
The PUBLIC

25. Subject - Form - Content
The Ingredients of Art
Subject
ContentForm
In Art, we have
the motivation (subject),
the substantiation (form),
and
communication (content.)

26. Organic Unity
Subject
Form
Concept

27.  Traditionally  Person,
object, theme
 Today  abstract age
 particular configuration of
the art elements,
 a record of the energy and
movement of the artist
The Three Basic Components of a Work of Art:
Subject

28.  The work’s appearance or organization
The Three Basic Components of a Work of Art:
Form

29. Traditionally
 The work’s total message
as developed by artist
and interpreted by the
viewer.
 Today  Derived from
the artist’s experience.
The Three Basic Components of a Work of Art:
Content

30.  Principles of organization:
Harmony, variety, balance,
movement, proportion,
dominance, and economy.
 Elements of organization:
Line, Shape, Value, Texture,
and Color.
The Three Basic Components of a Work of Art:

31.  A person, a thing, or an idea.
 In abstract or semiabstract works,
the subject may be somewhat
perceivable.
 In nonobjective works, the subject
is the idea behind the form of the
work, and it communicates with
those who can read the language
of form.
The Three Basic Components of a Work of Art:
Subject

32.  The subject is important only
to the degree that the artist is
motivated by it.
 The subject is just a starting
point.
 The way it is presented or
formed to give it expression
is the important
consideration.
The Three Basic Components of a Work of Art:
Subject

33.  Art parallels music in
presenting a
“nonrecognizable” subject.
 The subject is an idea rather
than a thing.
 All of the arts have subjects
that obviously should not be
judged alone, but by what is
done with them.
The Three Basic Components of a Work of Art:
Subject

34.  A result of the use of
the ELEMENTS of
line, texture, color,
shape, and value and
their relationship to the
PRINCIPLES of
harmony and variety.
The Three Basic Components of a Work of Art:
Form

35. In Art, we have
the motivation (subject),
the substantiation (form), and
communication (content.)
The Three Basic Components of a Work of Art:

36.  Formal organization involves all the visual
devices available to the artist in the
material of his or her choice.
 Arrange Intuitively vs Logically
 Formal order
The Three Basic Components of a Work of Art:
Form

37.  The emotional or
intellectual message of
an artwork.
 A statement,
expression, or mood
read into the work by
its observer, ideally
synchronized with the
artist’s intention.
The Three Basic Components of a Work of Art:
Content

38.  The symbols of death:
blacks and somber
grays, reduced
awareness of texture,
and emphasis of low
diagonals.
The Three Basic Components of a Work of Art:
Content

39.  For many people, content is
confined to familiar
associations, usually by
feeling aroused by known
objects or ideas.
 More meaningfully, content
is not utterly reliant on the
image but reinforced by the
form created by the artist.
 This content is found in an
abstract as well as more
realistic works.
The Three Basic Components of a Work of Art:
Content

41.  Art objects
 Sculpture  total organization or
composition
 A result of the use of the
ELEMENTS of line, texture, color,
shape, and value and their
relationship to the PRINCIPLES of
harmony and variety.
The Three Basic Components of a Work of Art:
Form

42.  Abstraction: All visual artworks require some
degree of abstraction.
 A greater degree of abstraction is often more difficult
to understand and appreciate.
The Three Basic Components of a Work of Art:
Content

43.  Abstraction: A process that imposes itself on the
artist in reaching the desired effect in a work.
 Involves reordering and emphasis, stripping-down to
expressive and communicative essentials.
The Three Basic Components of a Work of Art:
Content

45.  Simplification vs Making
the deeper meaning
more accessible.
 Abstract is more often a
VERB than a NOUN. (a
process not a product)
The Three Basic Components of a Work of Art:
Content

46.  The artist manipulates
the artistic elements line,
shape, etc. (the “what”) to
create the kind of form
(the “how”) that will result
in the desired content
(the “why”)
The Three Basic Components of a Work of Art:
Content

48.  Organic Unity: containing nothing that is
unnecessary or distracting, with relationships that
seem inevitable.
 Wholeness is difficult to detect in the works of
some contemporary artists who challenge
tradition.
 The distinction between subject, form, and
content are blurred.
The Three Basic Components of a Work of Art:
Content

49.  Conceptual Art: the concept
is foremost, the product is
considered negligible, and
the concept and subject
seem to be one.
 Process Art: the act of
producing is the only
significant aspect of the
artwork
The Three Basic Components of a Work of Art:
Organic Unity

50.  Perceptual Artist:
Records only what is
perceived.
 Conceptual Artist
(idea-oriented):
concerned with
responses that with
commonplace
perceptions.
The Three Basic Components of a Work of Art:
Organic Unity

52.  Creativity emanates from ideas.
 An idea is born in the mind.
The Three Basic Components of a Work of Art:
Creativity

53.  A Concept:
 an all-encompassing plan,
 a unique or particularly suitable
set of relationships,
 an attitude that could be
conveyed
 a way of conveying an attitude
 a solution to a visual problem
The Three Basic Components of a Work of Art:
Concept

54.  In the artist’s mind, the idea occurs as
mental imagery, an inspiration, or the end
product of much thoughtful searching
(notes, sketches, …)
 Creative enterprises are occasionally
plagued by mental blocks.
 In Art, an idea is of value only when
converted into visual reality.
The Three Basic Components of a Work of Art:
Concept

55.  Creativity emanates from ideas.
 An idea is born in the mind.
 A Concept:
 an all-encompassing plan,
 a unique or particularly suitable set of
relationships,
 an attitude that could be conveyed
 a way of conveying an attitude
 a solution to a visual problem
The Three Basic Components of a Work of Art:
Content

56.  All art is illusory to
some extent.
 Some artworks are
more successful than
others at drawing us
out of our standard
existence into a more
meaningful state.
Savoring the Ingredients

57.  In seeing and hearing the
arts, we are not in the
everyday world, but
rather a hyper-sensitized
world of “greater” values.
Savoring the Ingredients
ART ENLARGES OUR AWARENESS.

58.  Being Subjective: the artist reaches
below surface appearances and uses
unfamiliar ways to find unexpected truths.
 The results can often be
distressing for many observers.
 We all have the capacity to
appreciate the beautiful or
expressive.
 We must enlarge our sensitivity
and taste, making them more
inclusive.
Savoring the Ingredients

59.  See the uniqueness in
things.
 Every rose has a different
character, even with
identical breeding and
grooming.
 Every object is ultimately
unique.
 The artist should have the
ability to see the subtle
difference in things.
Savoring the Ingredients

60.  One way to extend our responses to art is
by attempting to see the uniqueness in
things.
 Every rose has a different character, even
with identical breeding and grooming.
 Every object is ultimately unique.
 The artist should have the ability to see the
subtle difference in things.
Savoring the Ingredients

61. Savoring the Ingredients

62.  Perception is the
key.
 Optical Perception:
When an artist views
an object and is
inspired to try to
reproduce the
original as seen.
Savoring the Ingredients

63.  Conceptual Perception:
When another artist seeing
the same object, the
imagination triggers the
creative vision and additional
images are suggested.
 Many people judge a work
of art by how closely it can
be made to look like
something.
Savoring the Ingredients

64.  The Camera!
 Photographers
become artists
when they are not
satisfied with
obvious
appearances.
Savoring the Ingredients

65.  People tend to
associate visual
art with literature,
hoping that it will
tell a story in a
descriptive
manner.
Savoring the Ingredients

66.  In adapting ourselves to
the rules peculiar to art, we
must also place our own
taste on trial.
 Accepting the possibility
that what is unfamiliar or
disliked may not
necessarily be badly
executed or devoid of
meaning.
Savoring the Ingredients

67.  Artists expand our frames
of references, revealing
new ways of seeing and
responding to our
surroundings.
 When we view artworks
knowledgeably, we can be
on the same wavelength
with the artist’s finely
tuned emotions.
Savoring the Ingredients

68.  Elements of Art are:
 Line
 Shape
 Value
 Texture
 Color
The Ingredients Assembled

69.  The VISION
 Giving shape by the way the elements are
brought together.
 Two-Dimensional Effect (circle, triangle,
or square)
 Elements lie flat on the picture plane.
 Three-Dimensional Effect (sphere,
pyramid, or cube)
 Elements penetrate the plane.
The Ingredients Assembled

70.  Decorative 
Ornamentation
 Line is decorative if it
does not leap toward or
away from the viewer.
The Ingredients Assembled
The VISION

71.  Plastic  When the elements make us
feel that we could dive into the picture
and weave our way around and behind
the art elements.
The Ingredients Assembled
The VISION

72.  Sculpture  We must move
about the piece.
 Mass and Volume indicate the
presence of three-dimensional
art.
 An empty living room has
volume in its dimensions, but
no mass.
 A brick has mass within its
volume.
The Ingredients Assembled
The VISION

73.  Graphic Arts  drawings, paintings,
printmaking, photography, and so on.
Generally exists on a flat surface and
rely on the illusion of the third
dimension.
The Ingredients Assembled
Plastic vs Graphic Art

74.  Plastic Arts 
sculpture, ceramics,
architecture, and so on.
Tangible an palpable
(physical), occupying
and encompassed by
their own space.
The Ingredients Assembled
Plastic vs Graphic Art

75.  An artist must begin with an idea, or a
germ, that will eventually develop into
the concept of the finished artwork.
 A thought that has suddenly struck the
artist, or a notion that has been growing
in his or her mind for a long time.
 The IDEA must be developed in a
medium selected by the artist (clay, oil,
pint, water color, etc.)
The Ingredients Assembled
The Idea

76.  The artist Controls and is Controlled by
the medium.
The Ingredients Assembled The
Medium

77.  The COMPOSITION  the formal
structure --- the most interesting and
communicative presentation of an idea.
 During this process ABSTRACTION will
inevitably occur; elements will be
simplified, changed, added, eliminated,
or generally edited.
The Ingredients Assembled
The COMPOSITION

78.  The Creative Process should lead to
Organic Unity:
 The culmination of everything that is being
sought in the work, that every part not only
fits, but that each one contributes to the
overall content, or meaning.
The Ingredients Assembled The
Organic Unity

79.  Media are the materials
used in making an artwork,
and techniques control
their application.
 The artist’s interaction with
the media.
 Successful Process.
CD
Two-Dimensional Media and Techniques

80.  Painters  smell and feel of fresh plaster – oil and
watercolors
 Draftsmen  heavy pressure or light touch – textural
quality of paper
 Printmaking  watching the physical surface change
 Photography  innovations – experiments
 New Media  Digital generated imagery, acrylics, pre-
liquified watercolors, drawing pens, welding, plastics,
aluminum, video, virtual reality, performances (dance,
drama, sound, light, audience), ..
CD
Two-Dimensional Media and Techniques

81.  A flat surface  the
picture plane
 The need to
somehow establish a
relationship between
the actual
environment and the
reduced size.
 Spatial illusions
The Two-Dimensional Picture Plane

83.  The artist may
manipulate forms or
elements so that they
seem flat on the
picture plane, or
extend them so that
they appear to exist
in front of or behind
the picture plane.
The Two-Dimensional Picture Plane

84.  Defined
boundaries around
the working area,
or picture plane.
The Picture Frame

85.  In three-dimensional art, the artist
begins with the material – metal, clay,
stone, glass, and so on – and works it
as a total form against the surrounding
space, with no limitations except for the
outermost contours.
The Two-Dimensional Picture Plane

86.  Once its shape and proportions are defined,
all of the art elements and their employment
will be influenced by it.
 Within the picture frame on the picture plane.
The Picture Frame

87.  Many artists select the
outside proportions of
their pictures on the
basis of geometric ratios.
 Most artists rely on their
instincts rater on a
mechanical formula.
 The direction and
movement of the
elements of art should be
in harmonious relation to
this shape.
The Picture Frame

88.  UNITY  All of the surface
areas in a picture.
 Positive areas  areas
that represent the artist’s
initial selection of
elements
 Negative areas 
Unoccupied areas
Positive and Negative Areas

89.  Traditionally
 Positive  figure and/or
foreground
 Negative  background
 Recently
 Field  positive
 Ground  negative
Positive and Negative Areas

90.  Inexperienced artists usually direct their
attention to positive forms and neglect the
surrounding areas.
Positive and Negative Areas

91.  The art elements:
 Line
 Shape
 Value
 Texture
 Color
The Art Elements

92. Art Fundamentals
Chapter 1
Introduction
End