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Essay on the history of art and its evolution
Breakthroughs in the evolution of art
Essay on the history of art and its evolution
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Thomas Merton once said “Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.” What is art? Art contain ways for people to express themselves through different means. One can sculpt, paint or draw; it really depends on how the person wants to express himself/herself. When people think of art, they tend to think of Pablo Picasso, Frida Kahlo or even Leonardo da Vinci. Yes, these long established artists paved the way, but art contains so much more. Art can include so many meanings and as a whole continues to evolve. Bill Viola portrays the way that art can change through time and with technology. Bill Viola helped discover video art. He received a Bachelor in Fine Art from the University of Syracuse in 1973. He knew art contained ways for him to express himself through different outlets. His art demonstrates different aspects of life and experiences. He primarily focuses on experiences such as life, death and even how one perceives different events. He takes different experiences and displays the art through video. The works that demonstrate his views the most include Isolde's ascension - The shape of light in the space after death 2005, Passage into Night 2005 and Earth, Air, Fire, Water 2014. In Isolde's ascension - The shape of light in the space after death, Bill Viola displays the …show more content…
eeriness of life. The sky remains dark yet the moonlight shines down on a single spot. The free flowing of the body and the seams of the woman’s dress continues to split. Her arms remain wide open as she embraces the open space. In this video art, Bill Viola shows a woman ascending instead of descending from water. The video demonstrates that whether one believes it or not that life exists after death. Those ideals grab people hoping for a new beginning when the day comes for them to ascend. The dark murky water below depicts the ascension through life, the reversal on how one perceives an event. As humans, it feels like we continue to just float until we ascend into the light. Bill Viola Passage into Night illustrates a woman walking in the immense heat of the afternoon sun.
The blazing heat of the afternoon sun continues to distort the woman’s figure and everything that surrounds her. She stays layered from her head to her ankle with hazy red, blue and black cloth. The blue robe cuts off to her ankle where she shows some light brown skin. The dark colored clothes chosen in hopes of blocking the penetrating sun rays. With the layers of clothing and the mirage of heat her identity remains unknown but she continues to move forward. Each step she takes she can feel the beige sand between her toes as she strive to reach her
destination. In Earth, Air, Fire and Water Bill Viola expresses the classical elements of life. The first image displays a man standing still while dirt pours on him. The sunlight radiating from above provides visibility as the dirt continues to descend upon him. As the dirt continues to fall, his white shirt becomes a light brown while his olive pants acquire the earth around him. The dirt continue to fall faster and faster until he falls on one knee. The second image demonstrates a woman hanging with rope knotted around her ankles and wrists. Her floating body in a pure white dress portrays air. The ropes keep her elevated and not restrained by gravity. The light gleaming against her pale white skin and pure white dress as her brown hair flows around in the air. In the video she swirls around in video entwining with the wind. The third image represents fire. Compared to the other images the flames provide the only light source. The image depicts flames consuming the dark toned man in a vanilla white long sleeve shirt and khaki pants. His faces remain unfazed with his hands against his lap. His wrinkles and partly white hair gives off a sense of experience while looking straight through the flames remaining confident. He seems used to it with flames becoming larger and larger. The last image characterizes water. The man restrained upside down by a rope knotted around his ankles. The gleaming water descends from above splashing against the man’s body causing it to glisten. He opens his arm embracing the water to no avail. The once grey pants now changed into a monochrome color with the water embedded into it. The position of his feet raised above and his arms wide open represent becoming one with the water. These four images depict experiences in life. The first image represents the roughness of life and how it can become heavy. The second image demonstrates how life tends to feel free. The third image portrays how life can consume someone and with experience we can overcome it. The last image displays how life can keep you restrained and submerged. Bill Viola as one of the founding fathers of video art wants to instill experiences into the viewer’s mind through his art. He entered school with the intentions of learning to sculpt and paint but video swayed him. Bill Viola now releases theses raw and extreme videos in hope for people to settle any lingering feelings such as the sadness of death. One of Bill Viola most famous works was influenced by the death of his father. He uses art to express how he views and feel about certain situations. Bill Viola acquires everyday occurrences and places them on a canvas for all to see its beauty.
When noticing a person who wears a similar clothes everyday, one may wonder what their intentions behind their attire is. In Isabel Allende’s story “Simple Marie” featured in The Stories of Eva Luna, the clothes are taken in a figurative sense just as much as in a literal function. Just as clothes are made to cover up one's physical body, clothes can be interpreted as a covering of one’s soul and true identity. Although, not very evident on the surface of the story, one can discover the intentions of Maria, by correlating the situation to her attire. The symbolism that Allende creates within the clothing of Maria illustrates a deeper sense to her vulnerability and reasoning within the situations of her life.
Art made with video is not the type of artwork that comes to mind when a museum is mentioned. Combining video with sculpture is a very unique form of art that a few explore successfully such as Tony Oursler. Oursler has taken art into another realm with video that could have not been thought imaginable as he brings his sculptures to life and gives them personality while touching on topics that are considered part of people’s private lives and human behavior. (Reservechannel). Sitting and observing one of Oursler’s sculptures evokes a different experience in comparison to looking at an inanimate sculpture or two dimensional artwork.
Art has been around for as long as humanity has existed, and it is much more than just drawings or paintings. Art is what every a person makes of it. Art can be drawings, paintings, writings, or even dancing, but never is it contained to just one of those things. As we explore just two aspect of art it is important to realize that there is no right or wrong way to look at the art. Art comes in many different forms, in which they are all interpreted a little differently by different people. For me, when I read a poem I do not instantly know what the poet is trying to say and I don’t find it as interesting, but when I look at a painting so many more thoughts comes and I can’t help by imagine what that artist was thinking while he was painting.
The article Artists Mythologies and Media Genius, Madness and Art History (1980) by Griselda Pollock is a forty page essay where Pollock (1980), argues and explains her views on the crucial question, "how art history works" (Pollock, 1980, p.57). She emphasizes that there should be changes to the practice of art history and uses Van Gogh as a major example in her study. Her thesis is to prove that the meaning behind artworks should not be restricted only to the artist who creates it, but also to realize what kind of economical, financial, social situation the artist may have been in to influence the subject that is used. (Pollock, 1980, pg. 57) She explains her views through this thesis and further develops this idea by engaging in scholarly debates with art historians and researcher, and objecting to how they claim there is a general state of how art is read. She structures her paragraphs in ways that allows her to present different kinds of evidences from a variety sources while using a formal yet persuasive tone of voice to get her point across to the reader.
Art is defined as the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power. Jackson Pollock does an amazing job creating art. Pollock’s works are not as big as some of the other artists like Monet’s paintings but his works are still large enough to engulf the viewer.
For the entire play, Rita wore many sunny, brightly colored clothing items. In the first act, Rita’s multi-colored skirts with flowers printed on them, vibrant scarfs, and neon orange headband spoke of her optimistic, maybe even a bit naïve, outlook on life and her u...
What is art? Art is the self-expression of someone of something that shows the hidden or underlying emotions that are found within the unconscious mind. Art has been around for centuries (“Merriam-Webster”). Normally, art would tell stories of past events which were significant to that culture. This could include things such as hunts and sacrifices to please the gods. As people and humanity started to evolve and become more civilized, art started to transform and take on a new appearance as well. From being a story prop to something that is more abstract; art started to become more and more important in the lives of people. During the renaissance in Europe, many new artists and ways of thinking emerged and became the main-stream way of thinking. Many of those artist are household names such as Vincent Van Gogh and Leonardo da Vinci . They transformed art from what it was to how we see it today (Belliveau). Jumping forward from the renaissance to the 1960’s, you have artists emerge such as Andy Warhol and Jackson Pollok. They pushed the boundaries of art and how it was perceived in society (American Art Therapy Association).
Art is an imitation of nature and the features or symbol of imaginative skill in the mind. It is characteristically in a pictorial form such as portrayal, imagery, or fabricating, monument work to be cherished primarily used for exquisiteness or expressive power. Bruce Nauman, Kerry James Marshall, Maya Lin, and Louise Bourgeois demonstrate their artwork and their inspiration behind their work.
Famous artist Pablo Picasso once said, “There are painters who transform the sun to a yellow spot, but there are others who, with the help of their art and their intelligence, transform a yellow spot into sun.” Art is something that is completely subjective and can be viewed or interpreted in such a vast number of ways. Someone may find something aesthetically pleasing, where another person may feel it is meaningless and hideous. That, however, is the true beauty of art. Through different interpretations and meanings, we are able to relate to art in many ways. The true nature of art is something that cannot simply be explained in a few sentences, but needs a deep analysis to realize the value and appreciation of it. The nature of art is any
According to Webster’s Dictionary, art is “human expression of objects by painting, etc” (10). The words “human experience” adds meaning to art. Artists reveal their inner thoughts and feelings through their work. When we study a painting by Salvador Dali, the strange objects and the surrealist background portrays the eccentricity of the painter. Some ideas cannot be explained verbally. They can only be shown via a medium. We can get across what is in our minds or our hearts by a stroke of a brush, a drop of paint, a row of words, or something else. But to express ourselves, we do not need to limit what we call art.
She describes her current world as cold and gray compared to her warm and colorful memories. The cold air and the weak sun, “trying to shine” (21) emphasize her unpleasant first impression of her new situation. She had put on a “gay dress made out od madras cloth‒the same sort I would wear if I were at home” (24-25), and her tone implies her excitement in finally being able to live in a better place. The change in mood from the dreary January weather to the gay sundress from the Caribbean highlights her discomfort and conflict with her
Bill Viola is one of those artists and he has been very important in further developing contemporary art. Specifically, in establishing video as a form of contemporary art. Clearly over the past few decades, art and technology have become more intertwined than ever before.
Anything creative can be considered art. But what is Art? “Art begins when a man, with the purpose of communicating to other people a feeling he once experienced, calls it up again within himself and expresses it by certain external signs” (Tolstoy, 1897 p. 38). And In art, visual media can be considered as more important than audio media. Before branching off into visual and audio media, as well as their comparisons, one must understand what art is, where it comes from and why certain aspects of it may or may not be considered more important than the other.
What is art? As I continue to develop my skills and contemplate their purpose, my initial analysis has not only shifted, but expanded in complexity.
Art surrounds us. It is encountered so often that often we don?t realize art when we see it. All too often we ignore art. We overlook the ideas and thoughts behind it. Anyone can look at a painting and say ?Wow! That?s beautiful!? How many of us can actually stop and say ?Wow! Now I understand!? Art is around to teach us. We can learn so much about ourselves and the world around us. Many times we create art without a conscious reason. We believe that we are just making a pretty picture. Usually we are expressing a subconscious idea. If take the time to actually analyze and criti...