mod 1

            1. Art is universal. In every country and in every generation, there is always art.  Often times, people feel that what is considered artistic are only those which have been made long time ago.  This is a misconception.  Age is not a factor in determining art. “An art is not good because it is old, but old because it is good.” (Dudley et al., 1960). In the Philippines, the works of Jose Rizal and Francisco Balagtas are not being read because they are old.  Florante at Laura never fails to teach high school students the beauty of love, one that is universal and pure.  Ibong Adarna, another Filipino masterpiece, has always captured the imagination of the young with its timeless lessons.  When we recite the Psalms, we feel in communion with King David as we feel one with him in his conversation with God.  When we listen to a Kundiman or perform folk dances, we still enjoy the way our Filipino ancestors while away their time in the past.

            2.  Art is not nature.  Art is made by man, whereas nature is given around us, God’s creation.  Art therefore, is man’s way of interpreting nature.

            3. Art involves experience.   By experience, we mean the “actual doing of something” (Dudley et. al. 1960) and it also affirmed that art depends on experience, and if one is to know art, he must know it not as fact or information but as an experience.  A work of an art then cannot be abstracted from actual doing.  In order to know what an artwork, we have to sense it, see and hear it.  An important aspect of experiencing art is its being highly personal, individual, and subjective.  In philosophical terms, perception of art is always a value judgment.  It depends on who the perceiver is, his tastes, his biases, and what he has inside.   

        1.  Art as a skill or Mastery.  The term art is used to simply refer to skill or mastery that is manifested in the outstanding product of an endeavor.

             2.  Art as a process or a product of a creative skill.  Art is a process because it involves arranging the aesthetic elements in an artistically interesting and appealing manner.  Art is a product because it includes human creations, different activities and manners of expression.

             3.  Art as a universal language.  The language of art is diverse.  Each art form has its own artistic elements such as literature, music and theatre.  Art expresses feelings and ideas shared by all individuals regardless of culture.

             4.  Art as a representation of reality.  Art is a reflection or a mirror of reality.

             5.  Art reflects the characteristics of a period.  During medieval period, the dominance of the church initiated the expression of spiritual truths.  In the visual arts, figures were presented in idealized “flat” forms to signify a lack of focus on the material world.  In the Renaissance period, the value ascribed to the material world was shown in more defined and realistic rendition of the human body in the visual arts.  The focus on the material world is shown in the “three-dimensional” reality of landscapes.  The modern period characterizes the idealistic search for truth and the realization that it is not attainable; thus, relativity is accepted as an unavoidable truth.  This is manifested by the varied experimentation of expressions.

             6.  Art shows the manner of existence of the people of long ago.  We gain awareness that the people during the Old Stone Age lived in caves and that they manifested their artistry by drawings and sketching.  

The arts are usually considered as part of the humanities. These include visual art (painting, sculpture and architecture), auditory arts (music and literature) and performing arts (drama and dance) (Gayeta, Macario, G. et. al. 2010)

           There are two general dimensions of arts, namely (1) fine arts or independent arts and (2) practical arts or utilitarian arts.  Fine arts are made primarily for aesthetic enjoyment through the senses, especially visual and auditory.   Practical arts are intended for practical use or utility.  It is the development of raw materials for utilitarian purposes.

           Fine arts or aesthetic arts are music, painting, sculpture, architecture, literature, dancing and drama. Practical arts or useful arts are industrial art, applied or household art, civic art, commercial art, graphic art, agricultural art, business art, distributive art, and fishery art.

           According to Custodia Sanchez, visual arts are those we perceive with our eyes. They may be classified into two groups, namely: (1) graphic arts; and (2) plastic arts.  Graphic arts include painting, drawing, photography, graphic process(printing), commercial art (designing of books, advertisements, signs, posters and other displays), mechanical process, in which portrayals of forms and symbols are recorded on a two-dimensional surface.  Plastic arts include all fields of visual arts for which materials are organized into three-dimensional forms such as structured architecture, landscape architecture, (gardens, parks, playgrounds, golf course beautification), city physical planning and interior arranging (design of wallpaper, furniture), sculpture, crafts, industrial design, dress and costume design, and theatre design.

           Josefina and Estolas grouped arts into major and minor arts.  Major arts include painting, architecture, sculpture, literature, music and dance.  Minor arts include the decorative arts, popular arts, graphic arts, plastic arts, and industrial arts.  Popular arts include film, newspaper, magazine, radio, and television.  Decorative arts or applied arts refers to beautify houses, offices, cars and other structure. (Ariola, Mariano M. 2014)

 The Functions of Art

          Every art form has definite functions since it satisfies particular needs.  To the layman, art may have little function.  To find meaning in art, it must have or serve a utilitarian purpose and be capable of serving the purpose for which it was designed. Art has a great number of different functions throughout its history, making its purpose difficult to abstract or quantify to a single concept.  The different purposes of art may be grouped according to those that are non-motivated and those that are motivated.

 A.  Non-motivated Functions of Art

 The non-motivated purposes of art are those that are integral to being human, transcend the individual, or do not fulfill a specific external purpose.  In this sense, art, as creativity, is something humans must do by their very nature (i.e. no other species creates art), and is therefore beyond utility.

            1.  Basic human instinct for harmony, balance, rhythm. Art at this level is not an action or an object, but an internal appreciation of balance and harmony and therefore an aspect of being human beyond utility.

            2.  Experience the mysterious.  Art provides a way to experience one’s self in relation to the universe. This experience may often come unmotivated as one appreciates art, music and poetry.

            “The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious.  It is the source of all true art and science.”- Albert Einstein

            3.  Expression of the imagination.  Art provides a means to express the imagination in nongrammatic ways that are not tied to the formality of spoken or written language.  Unlike words, which come in sequences and each of which have a definite meaning, art provides a range of forms, symbols and ideas in with meanings that are malleable.

            “Jupiter’s eagle, as an example of art, is not, like logical attributes to an object, the concept of the sublime and majestic creation, but rather something else- something that gives the imagination an incentive to spread its flight over a whole host of kindred representations that provoke more thought than admits of expression in a concept determined by words.  They furnish an artistic idea, which serves the above rational idea as a substitute for logical presentation, but with the proper function, however, of animating the mind by opening out for it a prospect into a field of kindred representations stretching beyond ken. - Immanuel Kant

            4.  Ritualistic and symbolic functions.  In many cultures, art us used in rituals, performances and dances as a decoration or symbol.  While these often have no specific utilitarian purpose, anthropologist know that they often serve a purpose at the level of meaning within a particular culture.  This meaning is not furnished by any individual but is often the result of many generations of change, and of cosmological relationship within the culture.

            “Most scholars who deal with rock paintings or objects recovered from prehistoric contexts that cannot be explained in utilitarian terms and are thus categorized as decorative, ritual or symbolic, are aware of the trap posed by the term “art”- Silva Tomaskova

 B.  Motivated Functions of Art

             Motivated purposes of art refer to intentional, conscious actions on the part of the artists or creator.  These may be to bring about political change, to comment on an aspect of society, to convey a specific emotion or mood, to address personal psychology, to illustrate another discipline, to sell a product, or simply as a form of communication.        

        1. Communication.  Art, at its simplest, is a form of communication.  As most forms of communication have an intent or goal directed toward another individual, this is a motivated purpose.  Illustrative arts, such as scientific illustration, are a form of art as communication.  Maps are another example.  However, the content need not be scientific.  Emotions, moods and feeling are also communicated through art.

        2.  Art as entertainment.  Art may seek to bring about a particular emotion or mood, for the purpose of relaxing or entertaining the viewer.  This is often the function of art industries of Motion Pictures and Video Games.

        3.  The Avant-Garde.  Art for political change.  One of the defining functions of early twentieth-century art has been to use visual images to bring about political change.  Art movements that had this goal- Dadaism, Surrealism, Constructivism, Abstract Expressionism, and among others are collectively referred to as the avant-garde arts.

        “By contrast, the realistic attitude, inspired by positivism, from Saint Thomas Aquinas to Anatole France, clearly seems to me to be hostile to any intellectual or moral advancement.  I loathe it, for it is made up of mediocrity, hate, and dull conceit.  It is this attitude which today gives birth to this ridiculous books, these insulting plays.  It constantly feeds on and derives strength from the newspapers and stultifies both science and art by assiduously flattering the lowest of tastes; clarity bordering on stupidity, a dog’s life.”- Andre Breton (Surrealist)

            4.  Art as a “free zone” removed from action of the social censure.  Unlike the avant-garde movements, which wanted to erase cultural differences in order to produce new universal values, contemporary art has enhanced its tolerance towards cultural differences as well as its critical and liberating functions (social inquiry, activism, subversion, deconstruction etc.) becoming a more open place for research and experimentation.

            5.  Art for social inquiry, subversion, and/or anarchy.  While similar to art for political change, subversive or deconstructivist art may seek to question aspects of society without any specific political goal.  In this case, the function of art may be simply to criticize some aspect of society. Graffiti art and other types of street art are graphics and images that are spray-painted or stenciled on public viewable walls, buildings, buses, trains, and bridges usually without permission.  Certain art forms, such as graffiti, may also be illegal when they break laws.

            5.  Art for social causes.  Art can be used to raise awareness for a large variety of causes.  A number of art activities were aimed at raising awareness of autism, cancer human trafficking, and a variety of other topics such as ocean conservation, women empowerment, raise awareness about pollution, etc.

            6.  Art for psychological and healing purposes.  Art is also used by art therapists, psychotherapists, and clinical psychologists as art therapy.  The Diagnostic Drawing Series, for example, is used to determine the personality and emotional functioning of a patient.  The end product is not the principal goal in this case, but rather a process of healing, through creative acts, is sought.  The resultant piece of artwork may also offer insight into the troubles experienced by the subject and may suggest suitable approaches to be used in more conventional forms of psychiatric therapy.

            7.  Art for propaganda or commercialism.  Art is often utilized as a form of propaganda, and thus can be used to subtly influence popular conceptions or mood.  In a similar way, art that tries to sell a product also influences mood and emotion. In both cases, the purpose of art here is to subtly manipulate the viewer into a particular emotional or psychological response toward a particular idea or object.

            8.  Art as a fitness indicator.  It has been argued that the ability of the human brain by far exceeds what was needed for survival in the ancestral environment.  One evolutionary psychology explanation for this is that the human brain and associated traits are the equivalent of the peacock’s tail.  The purpose of the male peacock’s extravagant tail has been argued to be to attract females.  According to this theory superior execution of art was evolutionary important because it attracted mates.

             The functions of art described above are not mutually exclusive, as many of them may overlap.  For example, art for the purpose of entertainment may also seek to sell a product (i.e. a movie or a video game).