Ch 1: Art and Art Making

Visual Form

the formal elements, line, shape, color texture, mass, volume, space

Content

mass of ideas associated with each artwork

Functions of Art

-reflects customs

-commemorates the dead

-glorifies the power of the state

-entertainment

-cohesion within a social group

Cubism

An art style in which multiple viewpoints or facets are represented within one point of view. Analytical Cubism broke down forms, while Synthetic Cubism used collage and assemblage to represent parts of objects in order to visually play with illusions and reality.

Aesthetics

involve the look and feel of an artwork and the attributes that elevate it above other objects.

Naturalistic imagery

recognizable imagery that is depicted very much as seen in nature

Idealized art

natural imagery is modified in a way that strives for perfection within the bounds of the values and aesthetics of a particular culture.

Expressionist art

Art that communicates heightened emotions and often a sense of urgency/spontaneity. Frequently appear bold/immediate rather than carefully considered/refined

Surrealism

Refers to art with a bizarre/fantastic arrangement of images/materials, as if tapping into the working of the unconscious mind

Nonobjective art

Contains forms that are completely generated by the artists.

Abstracted imagery

Imagery has been derived from reality by distorting, enlarging, and/or dissecting objects or figures from nature.

Style

Specific recognizable attributes and characteristics that are consistent and coherent in the artwork within a historical period, within a cultural tradition, or of an individual artist.

Visual culture

Art criticism that integrates and studies all of the visual components of contemporary culture, including fine art, television, advertising, and so on. (fine, popular culture, craft)

Fine Art

A category of refined object considered to be among the highest cultural achievements of the human race.

Popular Culture

(magazines, comics, TV shows, ads, folk art, tattoos, etc). Category also encompasses graphic design design, product design, and information design

Kitsch

A subcategory of pop culture comprises artwork that is shallow/pretentious overly calculated to be popular

Camp

Objects/images of such extreme artifice (and often banality) have a perverse sophisticated and aesthetic appeal and that they reveal “another kind truth about the human situation.”

Craft

Special media including ceramics, glass, jewelry, weaving, and woodworking. Craft objects are often utilitarian.

Apprentice Systems

-guilds (medieval Europe)

-Kitab Khana (Persian royalty)

-art academies (15th century Europe)

-college/uni (US)

Innovation

Making something that is new

Self Expression

refers to an individual artists’ own personal ideas/emotions, embedded in the works of art they make.