Today in class we talked some more about a good means as to how we can properly define art. As it turns out we discussed the definition this time in the format of an equation, to which I thought was a particularly appealing idea, so I started working on what I think is my appropriate understanding of art and how it can be defined.
What I came up with was an extention of the equation that we had in class that I feel incoorperates all aspects that I think are necessary in properly describing what art is and why it is important. The equation accomplishes two things: it shows what art is, and also gives an interesting way to determine if art is valued amongst people of the art world, and it looks like this:
How do you feel that this equation does to define art? What differences do you think make it stronger or weaker?
What I came up with was an extention of the equation that we had in class that I feel incoorperates all aspects that I think are necessary in properly describing what art is and why it is important. The equation accomplishes two things: it shows what art is, and also gives an interesting way to determine if art is valued amongst people of the art world, and it looks like this:
How do you feel that this equation does to define art? What differences do you think make it stronger or weaker?
Hey Alex i comment on your post I was just wondering if you could give more information on how time effects your equation.
ReplyDeleteWell as it turns out, the "time" piece of the equation is really tricky to incorporate into something is a standard value. Thus, the way that I look at that part of the equation is with a little bit of lenience by understanding that the meaning of "time" in the equation can be valued in different ways.
ReplyDeleteTo exemplify, I will use a couple of examples. First let's look at the blank canvas; the artist had the intention to set up an almost black canvas with the design aesthetic of adding some dim diagonal lines for whatever purpose. Now the creativity here is a little lacking, unless you consider this work as something creatively utilizing the absence (but that’s a little bit of a stretch). Finally, we have the bottom portion of the equation: The artist's skill of drawing the lines, in conjunction with the time that went into conceiving and creating this art leaves us with whatever amount of unique value we experience upon first seeing the art. In an unbiased manor, normally people would likely look at this artwork and be upset with its simplicity, thus making it more often than not unsuccessfully uniquely valuable.
On a different note though, let’s look at the same equation while analyzing John Cage's piece, which uses time in a much different way. When understanding Cage's actual view upon the subject, this equation becomes pretty interesting. For to him, the Intention was extreme, in addition to the fact that the aesthetic was properly prepared with respect the size of the audience that he had accumulated for its performance. Creatively speaking, 4'33 is about one of the most cleverly crafted pieces of music ever written, with special consideration to the fact that he was the only one who got to see the perfect performance. Now comes the tricky part, when analyzing the skill vs. time aspect, the skill of designing a piece that has no sound is ludicrous; however, the skill of designing a piece that a live audience can perform without knowing it for his own pleasure is extraordinary. Then comes the "time" to which 4'33 is completely based on. John Cage's genius in designing this piece based on the "time" is something to marvel at when seeing it in action, for he planned the timing of the song on the attention span of people in the audience; making the timing and the human reaction all fall into place on their own by sitting at a piano doing nothing. The cool thing about this example is that the people who don't understand the level of depth that he was aiming for completely miss the grandeur of the unique value distilled in 4'33. This thus showing necessity to understand art to appreciate the best stuff, and also how powerfully unique value can affect a person's opinion but not understanding.
(Also, if you wouldn't mind, would you put your posts through my blog in addition to yours rather than just telling me you responded?)