Art

“Art is a lie that makes us realize the

truth.”
- Pablo Picasso
 Introduction to Art
• Art and its abundance
• Art as Expression and Communication
- the artistic tension
- art for art’s sake and political art
- the artist and his/her special sensitivity
- art as experience as discovery
The Three Major Searches that Preoccupy the
Artist

1) Find ways to make appropriate images for

his/her god/s.
2) Discover the world around him/her.
3) Discover him/herself
• Art and Symbolism
• Aesthetic Satisfaction/Gratification
• Art and Context/Milieu
Artist as Historian
- Recording in his/her work the attitudes and the way
of life of his/her period

Artist as Critic
- analyzing and commenting on the virtues and vices
of his/her particular society, and pointing out a course
of action for its renovation
Art, in any given period, reflects two things—

1) The genius of its creator

2) The sensibility or the characteristic values and
attitudes toward important aspects of life held
by the society in which the work of art was
born
Art as Creation—an innate craving for order to
create objects that are delightful to perceive

Creation – the act of combining or re-ordering

already existing materials so that a new object is
formed

It involves SKILL and EXPERTNESS. It does not

just “happen.” It is acquired through long
training and constant practice.
ART originated from the Latin ars which means
skill. Its Greek counterpart is the word techne,
which means craftsmanship—the proficiency
required in performing any activity.

The word art right now is more used to refer to

skills and products which are primarily intended
to delight the senses and produce a satisfying
experience of the beautiful.
Art as a PLANNED ACTIVITY

There is no “original” artist, but s/he finishes a

work of art that has never existed before.
Creation involves constant correction and
redirection, depending on the demands of the
material and the challenges that it poses.

Each finished product is an expression of order—

the artist’s idea of order. FORM is the vehicle of
the idea.
Art and Experience
There are three kinds of experience involved in the artistic activity
—

1) The experience that the artist wants to communicate

2) The act of expressing the mentioned experience

3) The artist’s gratifying experience

The Onlooker’s [or Listener’s] Experience

A varying combination of sensory, emotional, and intellectual

responses is involved in experiencing art.

More understanding of the appreciated work would further

enhance aesthetic enjoyment.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge – “the willing suspension of disbelief”

Intellectual/Emotional Experience
Art and Nature

Art involves the re-ordering of details, the

removing of irrelevant elements and the
rearranging of the rest, so that the “slice of life”
presented is intensified and made more
significant.

Art and Beauty