Neighborhood Art Matters and Local Art Critics Matter →
Art criticism is a crucial aspect of the art world, serving as a means of interpreting and evaluating the significance of specific works of art. Art critics, whether esteemed national figures or relatively unknown local voices, play a critical role in helping viewers to perceive, analyze, and form judgments about works of art.
While critics tend to focus on modern and contemporary art from cultures close to their own, it is essential to recognize that they may need to included valuable insights from other cultures and historical periods. By expanding their horizons and exploring art from diverse sources, critics can gain a broader perspective and enrich their understanding of the art world.
Moreover, when we critique the work of others, we not only offer helpful feedback and suggestions, but we also learn to identify effective problem-solving strategies that can be applied to our creative endeavors. By examining other artists' approaches and evaluating their solutions' effectiveness, we can improve our artistic skills and grow as artists.
Overall, art criticism is an essential element of the art world, facilitating a deeper understanding and appreciation of the diverse and complex works of art that shape our cultural landscape. Whether you are an artist, a critic, or simply an art enthusiast, engaging with the critiques offered by others can help you to expand your horizons and develop a more nuanced understanding of the world of art.
MORE NEIGHBORHOOD ART
Does Art Reflect it's own Spirit: Is the Artist's Spirit changed by becoming Art? →
Artists’ inner feelings and emotions can be the voice of their spirit wanting to be heard. Feelings turn into powerful emotions that have their say and reflect the happenings in their life. Art becomes the tool for the spirit expressed using art.
Art may be presented to entertain or influence others; in those cases, it may draw more from the art’s goal than the artist’s feelings.
The totality of society and culture can be represented in art, becoming a form of collective expression.
The positioning of people, objects, and colors reflects the artists' personalities and spirits. When an artwork has a hidden or obvious meaning, you may feel the artist’s soul. The goal for the author would be for you to feel what they feel or think you should feel.
Joseph Heinrich Beuys, a German artist and art theorist who died in 1986, believed in the "extended definition of art" in which everybody was an artist.
He once said, "every sphere of human activity, even peeling a potato, can be a work of art as long as it is a conscious act,"
For some, art depends on its purpose. I can be a means to truth or knowledge, the acquisition of truth. Art has even been called the avenue to the highest knowledge available to humans and a kind of knowledge impossible to attain by any other means.
Why would different people perceive art differently? One answer has to do not with art creation but with the perception of what is created.
Perception is conditioned by many factors, including political, social, cultural, gender, racial, and even the life story of the viewer. For all an artist intends to present, the object for the viewer is the art, not the artist.
“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.”
Art will impact our life journey we experience along the path. The influences change as we change. The forms of art that appeal to us change. We may at some point find art painted on canvas profound and then find we are influenced more by nature surrounding us. Those are influences of choice, but what society deems art impacts us all as well.
Monochrome Art Brings a Focus on Winter →
Art is generally understood as any activity or product done by people with a communicative or aesthetic purpose—something that expresses an idea, an emotion, or, more generally, a worldview.
It is a component of culture, reflecting economic and social substrates in its design, and the use of colors can amplify those conclusions.
What do we say about art that wasn’t produced by humans but instead only perceived as art by humans? Is it art because it was perceived to be, or is it art regardless of whether humans observed and sensed it.
Contemporary artists and designers interpret the symbolic meaning by using black and white, making you concentrate on elements such as composition, value, lighting, and form. It can help focus on the image as a whole.
Another way to view black and white, as well as monochrome, is to consider color vs. ’s design. Picasso had a love affair with monochrome design versus color, and the artistic debate goes back to the Renaissance, with Picasso firmly on the side of black and white.
The eyes capture attention in Art and become the message →
Do artists testify by revealing more than we see or by seeing more than is revealed? ……………………………………. Of course their is more here than we see that is why the questions don’t have answers
Read moreThe artist presents testimony by revealing more than we see →
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Much has been said about art presenting a message transcending the content. What causes the items portrayed to have a message in addition to what is seen? Where did that message reside?
Perhaps a unique and previously inexperienced view of colors, shapes, and textures brings out memories or suggests them? Maybe it is the intensity of the color or the place of the object that we view that brings a previously unthought message to us?
Could a painting have a spirit of its own, and if so, is that spirit the poetry of the image that speaks to us?
Did the painting, or work of art, exist before it was found, and has it only been revealed? If images and art are displayed, then where and who is the original talent that the painter only uncovered.
Is art the artist’s testimony, or is the artist only the messenger?
Quotes to Ponder
“Painting is poetry that is seen rather than felt, and poetry is a painting that is felt rather than seen.” ― Leonardo da Vinci.
Color fills the space, layers showing light, darkness, movement, peace, and beauty. Purple represents dignity, grandeur, mystery, independence, and especially magic.
“Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.” ― Pablo Picasso.
"He said it wasn’t our decision if “Art was art,” adding that, "We don't inform art, that art informs us.” - Leonardo da Vinci
Does Metaphorical Art Exist? →
The contrast of white and black (light and darkness, day and night) has a long tradition of metaphorical usage. Day, light, and sound are often linked together in opposition to night, dark, and evil.
Black is the absence of light. Unlike white and other hues, pure black can exist in nature without any light. Some consider white to be color because white light comprises all the visible light spectrum hues. But technically, black and white are not colors; they’re shades.
If we can think of something, it exists in our thoughts, but if we can capture the black and white in a picture, then it may only represent our thoughts?
Removing the natural color of the flower and replacing it with black and white suggests that it is intended to be taken as a metaphor, something used symbolically to represent something else, offering a comparison or resemblance.
In this picture, it is clear that the image's subject is a flower, but the concept of the flower becomes imaginary, spiritual, or otherworldly, which may be the intent. For some, this might suggest that art informs because it is only revealed,d and if that is the case, then this picture of the flower is art showing itself.
A metaphor in the arts is a visual image meant to be understood by the viewer as a symbol for something else.
Rather than signifying death and mourning, a black rose breaks this more common assumption for black. Its radical difference from the red rose implies a more positive meaning of new beginnings, which, along with indicating significant changes, are common meanings for black roses.
How does Surrealism Liberate Thought? →
René Magritte’s “The Lovers” (1928) is a harrowing depiction of isolated love as the pair are kept apart by a mere shroud of fabric, preventing a fully loving embrace. Or could it have been a look into the future world of pandemic isolation?
What is the real purpose and object of art, literature, and thought? The obvious answer would be that it is communication, but the question becomes complicated when considering what communication is? Is it the message the artist intended to ask, or is it the scope of how the viewer of the art finds the answer?
Surrealism’s goal was to liberate thought, language, art, and human experience from the oppressive boundaries of rationalism. The consequence of the approach on the artists and writers was the belief that their work was revolutionary or philosophical. Neither the questions nor the answers their work presented mattered as long as the viewer was liberated to inject any variety of options for both.
Texture in Art can be Implied or Real →
Texture can be implied or be an essential factor in art. The surface is an art element used to bring depth and dimension. It can be told using a combination of long and short strokes but obtaining an actual texture is an important goal.
The texture is usually described as smooth or rough, soft or hard, coarse or fine, matt or glossy, and can be divided into two categories, tactile and visual textures.
Tactile textures refer to the immediate tangible feel of a surface but the texture and how it looks like it will feel if touched.
The texture is one of the seven elements of art. Understanding it fully will lead to more robust drawings and paintings. Surface - an art element that refers to how an object feels to the touch or looks as it may feel.
Smooth strokes create softness, and rough, reckless, and varied strokes convey a message of hardness. Paints can be blended, and three-dimensional effects can be made.
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Impressionistic Art often shows the impression of light
Top Picture Example small thin strokes
Impressionistic Art is a 19th-century movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, and emphasis on accurately depicting light in its changing qualities.
It emphasizes how light changes in the scene—the light changes suggesting a passage of time. Often the colors are soft rather than bold. The colors become more critical than the strokes.
The picture on the left below by Claude Monet titled Impression Sunrise is presented by small thin brush strokes, sometimes barely visible.
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Art is About Connections - Real or Implied →
Growing up, I did not think I was a good artist, but even so, I took an art class in the 9th grade. Many in the class were talented, and I wondered if I had made a mistake. Mr. Lampson, the teacher, was passionate about art, and early in the school year, he mentioned a phrase that just drove him crazy.
Even though this class and teacher did not set me on the path to greatness in art, it did get me thinking, and over the years, many things I learned told me that Mr. Lampson was right. Art does have its role and purpose, but the question of whether art reflects the artist’s feelings or if art created those feelings is still unclear. Maybe it is both?
Oscar Wilde, in his 1889 essay, "The Decay of Lying," said: “Life imitates Art, more than Art imitates Life, and what is found in life and nature is not what is there, but is that which artists taught people to find there, through art.”
Do we see what is there, or what an artist taught us to see? It has been found that people do visit what they are conditioned to see. When people are hypnotized and asked about what they saw when they walked through a room, they have very different answers than when not hypnotized. People under hypnosis can remember the number of tiles on the ceiling or even the faces on the magazines on the tables, and they can’t remember those things. Their conscious mind was not interested in them.
Mr. Lampson also showed us how a lump of clay, spinning on a pottery wheel, grasped by an artist's hands, changed into what he imagined the clay to be and said that the clay itself informed the artist through the feelings it brought. He said that the bowls and vases produced were different when finished than the first intended and that the clay could talk to us. He attempted to teach us how to listen.
Writers and artists reveal much about themselves in their work but also find a great deal waiting to be expressed.
Art Gives Feelings Shapes and Shapes Feelings →
Is the object of art to give life a shape, or is it to provide the body with a life? Does art give feelings shape or shape feelings?
How the artist communicates how the artists use line, color, and Seaford space to convey the shapes and feelings of art.
Can the painting of a flower ever surpass the original in beauty and impact? →
Did Shakespeare say that The Object of Art is to give Life a Shape but which is greater, the art or the artist’s shape? Perhaps the artist adds to the original with emphasis felt.
Pink flowers represent grace and elegance and are captured in paintings to communicate feelings.
Does the painting of a flower ever equal or surpass the original is not the question but instead, does the image add to what we had before?
Pottery Art brings the spirit of the earth to art
Clay is modeled, dried, and fired into a vessel or decorative object, usually with a glaze or finish. Clay is a natural product dug from the earth.
The potter’s spirit and the earth come together to inform us of beauty.
PS: Note to those that love Art. See the review of “Art Before Breakfast” by Danny Gregory Click Here.
Quote by Danny Gregory
“It’s ironic that people speak of artists as dreamers. I think they are the most grounded people around. Conscious and present. As an artist, you really see life, connect with its beauty, and create something that shares those observations with others. You notice things.”
Also see review of “What Is Art” by Leo Tolstoy, click here
Street Art Reviewed is in the Eye of the Beholder →
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Is Street Art Really Art?
Is the main difference between graffiti and street art the intention behind each approach? Graffiti writers are not interested in the general public understanding their artwork. They are primarily concerned with other graffiti writers who can decipher the coded tags and appreciate the writing style. This ignores the intended public impression created by graffiti which can be complex.
To assume that street art is intended for a different audience still leaves the question of whether it is art? Perhaps it is enhanced skill, but then it is likely in the eye of the beholder to decide.
If it is art or graffiti, may only be determined in where it is put. →
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Does our perception of art communicate reality or just what we think the truth is? Are our emotions telling us what we see, or are they being told what to feel by what we see?
We express ourselves with the tools we have, and words, feelings, and eyes serve us well in that regard, but do our emotions and feelings convey accurate perceptions.
Art can be in various forms, shapes, colors, and textures, but the meaning will differ depending on what the viewer knows. Can the importance of art be the same for two people?
If the meaning isn’t clear or weak, the images may lack the needed complexity. Graffiti qualifies as art, but some disagree, and some feel it is only a cynical attempt at art, saying, “If art were a positive agent of change, the graffiti, being everywhere, would have made a better society for all. Of us.”
Isn’t the question really what is better, not what is art? Graffiti, a form of visual communication, usually illegal, involves an individual or group's unauthorized marking of public space.
Some say art is a human invention and...................
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Some say that art is a human invention and that nature is not art because art needs a conscious mind, and nature is not intended.
Beauty is just a part of art, but art is not always beautiful, nor does it has to be attractive to be considered art.
Some may be surprised to find that nature may indeed be conscious and occasionally turns man’s work into Art.
Does Street Art Speak to the Marketplace
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Street art is a form of the artwork displayed in a community on its surrounding buildings, streets, trains, and other publicly viewed surfaces.
So does Street Art speak to you? The marketplace says to us and business people who want to know what to do, “Listen to the Marketplace” (see essay on this in Essay Section). Should artists listen?
So is Street Art a reflection of the marketplace? Artists can listen to what it has to say and learn from it. It will tell of trends, fads, and coming changes. The artists who paint Street Art live in society, and their voice is revealing?
A Painting is Poetry and Art in what it suggests and in your thoughts. →
Art is likely to be poetic if it leaves out detail or conceals information or suggests the interpretation of the detail. It may suggest the influences and moods that are poetic.
The composition of poetry implied draws strong parallels the message of the painting. It starts with an idea, a subject, a theme, or often a distinct feeling.
It is the artist that takes pen or brush to canvas or paper and brings the poetic message to life.
“Painting is poetry that is seen rather than felt, and poetry is painting that is felt rather than seen.”
― Leonardo da Vinci
The color focuses the eye to the message of a marketplace which conveys where the center of excitement is. We feel the festive mood and if we relate to it then it is poetry to our soul.
This painting of the pioneer woman was painted as a mural by a pioneer artist, Minerva Teichert, across the entire front wall of this chapel above. I attended this chapel regularly in the 1950s, and it offered ample opportunities for interpretation.
Oil Painting Speaks in a Different Way
“Painting is poetry that is seen rather than felt, and poetry is a painting that is felt rather than seen.” ― Leonardo da Vinci.
Julius Klever(1850-1924), "Golden Autumn"
The oil painting has unique character-like properties that speak to you differently from other art forms or photography.
The oil paint is different in flexibility and depth of color and can be applied in many ways, from thin glazes diluted with turpentine, or linseed oil, to dense thick paste........ (more on this in the previous post in this section July 30th, "Oil Paints Resonates Realism)
