What is Art? - HCC Learning Web

What is Art?
Matthew
Danser
Michael P. Smith
Damien Hirst
Balloon Dog, Jeff Koons
Marina Abramović
2D
3D
Architecture
The four roles of the artist:
1. Artists help us to see the world in new or innovative ways.
2. Artists make a visual record of the people, places, and events of their
time and place.
3. Artists make functional objects and structures more pleasurable and
elevate them or imbue them with meaning.
4. Artists give form to the immaterial-- hidden or universal truths, spiritual
forces, personal feelings.
1. Artists help
us to see the
world in new
or innovative
ways.
Dario Robleto, Cassette: carved bone & bone dust from every bone in the body, trinitite (glass
produced during the first atomic test explosion at Trinity test site circa 1945, when heat from blast
melted surrounding sand), metal screws, rust, letraset; audio tape: an original composition of
military drum marches, weapon fire, and soldiers' voices from battlefields of various wars made
from Electronic Voice Phenomena recordings (voices and sounds of the dead or past, detected
through magnetic audio tape).
Ron Mueck
Evokes emotions
J.D. Hillberry
Entertains
Andrew Wyeth
It challenges you
2. Artists make
a visual record
of the people,
places, and
events of their
time and place.
John Ahearn and Rigoberto Torres. Pat. 1982.
28 1/2 x 16 1/2 x 11 in.
2. Artists
make a
visual
record of
the people,
places, and
events of
their time
and place.
Claude Monet. Le Pont de l’Europe, Gare Saint-Lazare. 1877.
25 1/4 x 31 7/8 in.
Records history
Expresses culture
Odd Nerdrum
Seirgi Isupov
Kane Kwei. Coffin Orange, in the Shape of a Cocoa Pod. c. 1970.
34 x 105 1/2 x 24 in.
3. Artists make functional objects and structures more pleasurable and
elevate them or imbue them with meaning.
Chris Shea,
Hippocampus
Matthew Smith. Cuff links, c 2010.
Silver, Acrylic, Palm Wood
3. Artists make functional objects and structures more pleasurable and
elevate them or imbue them with meaning.
4. Artists give
form to the
immaterial-hidden or
universal truths,
spiritual forces,
personal
feelings.
Magical figure, nkisi nkonde. Late nineteenth century.
height 20 in.
Lindsay Feurer
Speaks of beauty and nature
4. Artists give
form to the
immaterial-hidden or
universal truths,
spiritual forces,
personal
feelings.
Jan van Eyck. God. Panel from The Ghent Altarpiece, c.
1432.
Jasper Johns. Three Flags. 1958.
30 7/8 x 45 1/2 x 5 in.
Active Seeing– looking more closely at the world and
understanding how our past and culture affects what we see.
The influence of
culture and
society
Apollo Belvedere (detail). Roman copy after a fourth-century BCE Greek
original.
Height of entire sculpture 7 ft. 4 in.
African mask, Sang tribe.
Nativity, Annunciation of the Shepherds, and the Adoration of the Magi
from Chartres Cathedral, c. 1150.
Iconography and Symbols
Two-Headed Boy,
Sharon Ratten
We refer to works of art as:
- Representational: references the
natural world and resembles reality
- Abstract: not representing reality as
seen or known
- Nonrepresentational: does not
reference the natural world or reality
Albert Bierstadt. The Rocky Mountains, Lander’s Peak. 1863.
73 1/2 x 120 3/4 in.
Representational
Sam Maloof. Walnut Rocker.
20th century.
Sesshu Toyo. Haboku Landscape for Soen (detail).
Muromachi period, 1495. total height 58 1/4 in.
Jerry Bennett. DCanter. c. 2010.
wood
Abstract
Erna Motna. Bushfire and Corroboree Dreaming. 1988.
48 x 32 in.
More abstract
Tony Marsh. Untitled, perforated vessel. 20th
Century.
ceramic
Kasimir Malevich. Suprematist Painting, Black Rectangle,
Blue Triangle. 1915.
26 1/8 x 22 1/2 in.
Laura Marotta
Nonrepresentational
Jan van Eyck. Giovanni Arnolfini and His Wife Giovanna Cenami.
c.1434.
32 1/4 x 23 1/2 in.
Jan van Eyck. The Marriage of Giovanni Arnolfini and Giovanna
Cenami (detail). 1434.
The End