For my blog this week, I chose to work out of Chapter 6, The Importance Of Feeling. Reading through the chapter, I really got attached to the quote by Francis Bacon “...the world is inferior to the soul. The acts or events of true history have not that magnitude which satisfies the mind of man. Poesie endueth Action and Events with more rareness and more unexpected variations.”

The way I took this quote is that a piece of art can really make a difference to someone, or it can do nothing. It really depends on how extraordinary it is to them. Like the book says, humans have a need for both ordinary, and extraordinary; for order and disorder. One artist that this really reminded me of is Salvador Dali, all of his work is based off of ordinary, turned into something extraordinary. For example, the picture below is of animals with exaggerated legs, exaggerated buildings and exaggerated figures. All of these details make the picture more extraordinary and more unique.

Another piece of extraordinary art i found was a sculpture made only by forks by Matthew Bartik. By taking something so ordinary as a fork and creating a sculpture so exquisite, Bartik demonstrates the act of making something so simple extraordinary.

As humans, we strive for a chance to escape the world were in. Personally, I believe that art, as the pieces i showed you, can really suppress that need and help us experience something were not use to, something extraordinary. 

For my blog entry this week, I chose to do the second prompt given. We were asked to choose a type of art and explain how an anthropologist might undertake the study of its form and substance. As I was sitting in class wondering what I should work with on the prompt, I thought about graffiti. Graffiti is one of those subjects that are very controversial, some people find it offending.. but at the same time more and more of us are seeing graffiti as a work of art.
If you look at the art of Banksy, a street artist that originated in London but was quickly well known, you'll see that not only is his art asthetically pleasing, but it also has meaning behind it.
Banksys art is also very interesting because Banksy has never really been seen or discovered, therefore, he has no background to us. Banksy can basically touch on every subject without complete offense to a certain culture or issue personally I believe that thats what pulls people to his art.
        In all three pictures I posted below, Banksy is making quite the political statement, the first about war and the other two about industrialization. In is art, Banksy makes it very clear that he is opposed to both of these things, such that even people who don't like street art or are not educated in the matter still find it meaningful or aesthetically pleasing.
I believe for an anthropologist to be able to undertake the study of its form and substance they would first have to find out exactly what is being communicated. Where his art is placed and what message it is meant to bring is a huge factor in determining how dense the substance of the art is. As for the form, and how sensually pleasing it is, they would have to see how the public reacts to it.
I completely agree with Layton that “there are two different approaches to the definition of art” and that if you look at a piece of art you should really be able to find it both aesthetically pleasing and meaningful.


   

Hey guys :)

My names Sarah Mann and I am a psychology major from Roseville California. I am very interested in Anthropology and might minor in it because its simply fascinating learning about different cultures and different things they value. I chose this class in particular because I believe art is necessary to keep cities and cultures alive.

Beginning with the topic at hand, what is art? Its tough to come up with a hard copy definition of such a widely interpreted topic. So many people have different definitions of what they believe art to be, even sitting in class the first two days I experienced a couple different viewpoints of the topic.

Personally, I believe art is a representation. I believe art is the desire of an artist to appeal and create relation to another being or culture without physically speaking to them. Art takes down a language barrier and speaks to people through emotion. Which comes to my first topic, can there be such thing as bad art? I personally believe there is no such thing. As I was saying before, art sparks emotion, whether its good or bad. People may consider art that makes them unhappy, uncomfortable, or unsatisfied to be bad art, but I see it as a way to really feel what the artist was feeling when said artwork was made. On the bottom line, not all art is beautiful.

But where do you draw the line? If art is simply something that sparks emotion, anything could be considered art. You really have to look into it to see that not everything beautiful is art. Buildings, pottery, and artifacts could all be considered art, but in some/ most cases, they are truly just a work of craft. In my opinion, it really depends on the time and meaning put into the piece, the colors used, and the reactions the piece creates that determine whether it was a work of craft, or art.

One main thing I really hope to get out of this class is gaining a more vast appreciation for art. By the end of this class I would love to have a better definition of what art really is, because personally I still feel a bit naive in the subject. If anyone has any opinions about my post they would like to put in, please do so. I am so exited to really get everyones input on the subject.

-Sarah Mann

some art that i love:

Banksy

Robert Mapplethorpe