How do you view art?

[goldfinch]

I'm taking a class, and during a break a bunch of us were standing in the hall looking at a piece of artwork on the wall. It was a textured background in shades of dark green and brown, kind of swirly. In the middle were glued pieces of broken mirror.

I looked at it for a while and said it looked like a person whose head was exploding because they were lost in the rainforest.

One of the other students said, "You remind me of my mom. She always finds things in artwork. I just look at it and feel the emotion."

How do you view art?

 

[Orion]

It is a way to express yourself. It is the communication of an idea, thought or emotion through a creative medium. I come across a lot of people who don't view art as a reasonable or worthy career. I don't like when people limit the term "artist" to only those who paint and sculpt or create stuff to put in white walled galleries. I don't like the way people think that you have to get paid before you can be considered an artist. I have a strong dislike for people who think it is useless and that only the literal and concrete should matter.

I wouldn't say art is essential. I would say it is inherent in all humans though. It's not pure either. It can be twisted and warped into other things, that hide under the pretence of art but are really hollow shells of a lie. I wouldn't presume to say that art changes peoples lives, it just allows people to open up for change that they themselves can initiate.

It can help people relate and deal. It can make you feel better or worse.

Well those are just my ramblings...

 

[AUM]

I usually can't make out anything out of paintings when I'm looking at them. I prefer landscapes because I can imagine myself being in those places but overall I get bored looking at paintings. Writing is a kind of an art, so I prefer those kind of creative expressions.

 

[Indie.J]

I love art. I tend to view each artwork in different ways. I don't necessarily have to find pictures in artworks but most of the time I find emotion. I like to think about what the meaning or emotion behind the artwork could be. Like was it spontaneous or deliberately thought out from the beginning? I view art as a way somebody has expressed themselves and so try to imagine the life of the artist. All creativity to me is art and I view the medium an artist has used to express themselves as an expression of their personality, likes/dislikes and experiences from the beginning. The medium is a part of the art. A painting is not just a painting and a song is not just a song. They are decisions the artist as made from the start on how to express themselves.

 

[the]

I like pretty pictures and statues. I dont look for meaning in them, I just enjoy them in the background.

 

[BickByro]

It's definitely not about emotion for me, but it's not about precision technique either. I think I like cool colors and cool shapes.

 

[acd]

I usually view art as social commentary, or self expression as felt by the artist in the context of their culture.

It doesn't have to be pretty and pleasing to me, and I don't need to be impressed by technique or what have you..

For example, my friend Mike and I journeyed up to the art museum in the city just to stand and stare at John McCracken's Red Plank (1969):

He argued it was not art, that it was red plexiglass rectangle signifying nothing. There was no merit of talent involved in it's creation whatsoever.

But to me, it was too simple to just be a red plank. Something that mundane couldn't possibly be all that it appears.

I said it was an apt depiction of the alienation experienced by individuals within an industrialized society. Just looking at it, I felt alienated. It reminded me of part of the lettering on the sign of a supermarket or fast food chain or a K-Mart. Something like that-- only it wasn't attached to anything. It was cheap and detached looking to me.

Maybe it depicts the soul of an artist struggling against being beaten in submission by a bland systematic unnatural way of life. All art is human, something of the mind or soul seeps out into a concrete form. That's how I view it.

 

[AUM]

Red Plank (1969):

To me that red plank represents self awareness. I've never liked red because it's to notorious as if people would look at me if I'm wearing such color. It's uncomfortable to look at it to tell you the truth. It's like a bully and standing next to it makes feel as if I'm nothing. LOL wow, it's a weird emotion.

 

[acd]

To me that red plank represents self awareness. I've never liked red because it's to notorious as if people would look at me if I'm wearing such color. It's uncomfortable to look at it to tell you the truth. It's like a bully and standing next to it makes feel as if I'm nothing. LOL wow, it's a weird emotion.

You don't like attention drawn to yourself, and red is an attention seeking color. The bold presence of it gives you feelings of inferiority.. That's interesting.

Do you see the plank as representing dominance or assertiveness as well?

 

[AUM]

You don't like attention drawn to yourself, and red is an attention seeking color. The bold presence of it gives you feelings of inferiority.. That's interesting.

Do you see the plank as representing dominance or assertiveness as well?

Dominance. If the plank was blue I would've felt more at home. It's a soothing color with a quiet strenght. This on the other hand was too much, overwhelming if I had seen it in real life.

Indeed, it's a simple picture but with lots of interpretations.

 

[Appoggiatura]

I adore art ^-^. I love admiring art, and I love creating art.
Art, to me, is a creative, physical expression of the human soul that can serve purposes as varied as advertising a product [billboards and runway fashions], molding an atmosphere [architecture and landscaping and interior design], opening eyes [war photography and the like], inspiring people [music and painting and everything in between].
I admire the conscientious thought the artist has to put into his/her work and the overall composition, which includes design and color and innovation. To me, a complex Gothic cathedral is a masterpiece just as much as a [seemingly] simplistic charcoal doodle is.
I look at art for its aesthetics and emotional values. I tend to tear up a lot ;( when I view a particularly awing piece or listen to a touching song because i just feel so brimming-over with emotion.

 

[Lady_Ai]

I have to admit I never really looked/or really thought much into art until I studied AP art history. Now I'm a art fanatic.

We studied the history around the time art was being made, the techniques used, authors descriptions, media, and how to do interpretations.

After a year and the course was over the class and I went over to seattle's art museum(my first time). I was breathe taken away by everything from the grandiose monuments to the simplist pieces. When you think about the amount of love and dedication into the piece you feel you make that connection with the artist and what they were trying to convey.

Now there is a misinterpretation about art that you have to look too deep ' all the time which turns off something people. That's fine.But if you get something out of it thats great.

Art is a great way to express self, giving live to simplist imagination, sharing it with others.

 

[slant]

Writing is cool in my book.

But no poems.

I only appreciate art if my friend drew it and I got to watch them do it. This being, still arts and such of their surroundings. Portraits, I think they are called.

 

[CycleBreaker]

When I look at art, I try to learn everything I can from it. My mind starts making connections, not only within the art piece itself, but with my memories and experiences.

And alt ctrl del... I agree with your friend Mike. That's not art. I put more thought into the designs I make in my mashed potatoes.

 

[daydreamer]

I used to think it's a painting and that's it. Now I look at the symbolism and what is going on in the picture.