1) Of all the definitions of Art my favorite comes from a quote by Andre Gide. He says “Art is a collaboration between God and the artist, and the less the artist does the better.” To me this quote means that art is an inspiration and that the less an artist thinks about how to improve the piece of art the better it becomes. The most memorable experience that I have had with art is when I went to Washington D.C. my junior year of high school. My class visited the Korean War Memorial . The statues were created to honor those that fought in the Korean War. The resemblance of the art to real life was quite impressive. The statues were in a spread out military formation with someone at point (out in front of the formation leading the way). The looks the artist put on the statues’ faces were left to interpretation by the viewer. They looked hauntingly real, all of them with different looks. Some looked scared others determined. Mostly I saw life in their eyes, the artist portraying the real life fear and worry of young men thrust into a place they don’t know to fight a war. The artist successfully let the viewer know exactly what the artist wanted them to see.
2) de Duve’s essay on what is art is an interesting look at what art actually is. de Duve shows how of all the different ways you could look at art, whether as an ET, a historian, an anthropologist, or other viewpoints it is not definable. I believe this to be true. Art is something that to humans is not definable, because of all the different types of art. Considering that Duchamp’s urinal is art, how can anything not be art if someone believes it to be. As long as someone believes something to be art it can be argued that it is due to art’s all encompassing nature. de Duve explains throughout “Art was a proper name” how art is everything and nothing all at once. Art cannot be defined and should never be defined for if it ever is, art will lose its mystique, and its soul.
1 comment:
Hi Zack,
I wonder if you could post an image of the Korean War Memorial to your blog. There are plenty on line.
Here is one you could use:
http://tinyurl.com/2ntfx9
As for your choice of art, I wonder if you could define the difference between a MEMORIAL and a SCULPTURE.
Are all memorials works of art?
I like how you used a quote to begin your blog entry. I would recommend for future blog entries that you also refer back to the reading and quote from that as well, as a way of pointing out certain passages from the author that you felt were articulate or perhaps even confusing.
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