Aesthetic Experience and Ideas - Art

Essentialism

• All art has some feature

• Art has X

• Controversial because there are too many types of art to find one common feature.

Functionalism

• All art has some function

• Everything that does Y

• E.g. furniture

Institutional Theories

• Art is whatever the art world says it is

• Museum, gallery, concert hall, art school, etc.

Art world Theory

Created by Arthur Danto, which is an agreement between the artist and the gallery, making something considered art.

Historical Definitions

Art that fits into a recognized artistic tradition

Anti-essentialism

• Art can’t be defined using traditional methods

• Rejecting unifying thread within art

Pluralism

• Accept many definitions

• “I’ll know it when I see it”

What are the 6 steps of creating art (Scott Mcloud)?

Idea/purpose, form, idiom, structure, craft, surface

Idea/purpose

Impulses, ideas, emotions, philosophies, and purposes of the work (work’s content)

Form

The form it takes (e.g. book, drawing, song, etc.)

Idiom

“School” of art - vocabulary of styles, gestures, or subject matter - genre that the work belongs to

Structure

How to compose the work (what to include, leave out, arrange)

Craft

Constructing work, applying skills, practical knowledge, invention, problem-solving, getting the job done

Surface

Production values, finishing aspects most apparent on the first superficial exposure to the work