This essay shall explore Joseph Kosuth’s argument that Conceptual Art requires art to shift from morphology to function; and therefore will investigate the meaning of this argument and how it has affected artistic practice. It will explain the importance of how this argument has changed the way the audience think about art. Subsequently it will outline several points of his argument and then expand and explore them in more depth. To define the artistic terminology used above, the term morphology is used to describe how a piece is constructed along with its overall aesthetics; whereas function is used to describe what is being said by the piece and the concept behind it. Conceptual Art emerged from abstraction and minimalism; it marked the end of modernism and questioned what constitutes art, having its own values separate from the rest of the world. A key source that will be referred to throughout this essay and which is regularly used for researching Kosuth’s argument is his 1969 text “Art after Philosophy”.
Kosuth argues Conceptual Art requires art to shift from Morphology to Function. In other words he states that the form of the work is secondary in importance to the context and reason for its creation; therefore promoting a separation between art history and aesthetics. Therefore all elements which are secondary to function should be removed and that the function of art is solely to address and question art. He continues on to argue that the artists’ idea or
Although examining art requires a huge knowledge, my intention in this essay is to analyze a piece of art, besides lyrics and the context, I’m going to examine it by following the steps presented by Alain de Botton.
"Exploring Art: A Global, Thematic Approach, 5th Edition. "Exploring Art: A Global, Thematic Approach: Margaret Lazzari, Dona Schlesier: 9781285858166: Amazon.com: Books. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 July
This paper examined in detail the reasoning, evidence from a claim that Robert Florczak arguing Why is modern art so bad? Robert florczak is an American artists and illustrator with many years of experience in field of art. The motive of the speech is to convince the art community of the ineffectiveness of modern art. The speaker uses a compare and contrast method during his speech between western and modern art. To show differences between the two, he illustrates his ability to back up his argument with evidence. He uses rhetorical analysis techniques such as, ethos, pathos, and logos to build on various point of views to strength his point. The speaker could achieve the overall purpose of the speech in convincing the art community of the
Students through the process of art appreciation will build connections through the exploration of textures, lines, colour and shape when describing, analysing, interpreting and judging the artworks before them (3 chosen images). They are asked to describe what they see, the artist’s use of colour, lines, shapes and texture. They then move onto analysing; what catches their eye, is the composition balanced and do the paintings look flat or do they have depth. The discussion then progresses onto interpretation where students are able to express what type of emotion they feel when looking at the pictures, perhaps the kind of sounds they might hear if they could step into it, and why they think the artist chose this particular subject to paint and what may have inspired the artist.
Maggie Saldivar’s Toulmin Schema argues whether or not Art should have a definition, and if so what its definition should really be. The Schema outlines what many well-known Artists define as of Art, some of which correlated with her claim, while others were relatively specific, and opposed/challenged her claim. The author's original claim; Art should not have a definition, was not altered throughout the process of writing the Toulmin Schema, and therefore it’s qualifier is nearly identical to the beginning claim.
In John Berger’s essay “Ways of Seeing,” he shares his view on how he feels art is seen. Mr. Berger explores how the views of people are original and how art is seen very differently. By comparing certain photographs, he goes on to let his Audience, which is represented as the academic, witness for themselves how art may come across as something specific and it can mean something completely different depending on who is studying the art. The author goes into details of why images were first used, how we used to analyze art vs how we do today, and the rarity of arts. He is able to effectively pass on his message by using the strategies of Rhetoric, which include Logos, Pathos, and Ethos.
Just like everything else in life, art has its critics. Art criticism is the expression used to describe the act of making selective judgments, both positive and negative, about an art piece. Just as art is so diversely expressed and interpreted, those who critique it also have various methods and use various standards when criticizing an art piece. There are many theories critics use to evaluate art but there are three basic theories most commonly put to use by professionals. The three basic theories are: formal theories, contextual theories, and expressive theories. Formal theories focus on the formalities of art. Critics using formal theories pay close attention to the making of a piece, how each section of the art piece works to form a visual experience that may or may not attract the attention of those who come across it. Formalists’ attention is centered on the formal organization rather than the themes, which they deem irrelevant. Contextualists, on the other hand, value the theme and its relevance to the times in which the artwork was created. The contextual theories deal with the context in which an art piece is used; what it symbolizes concerning the culture and values of the environment. Lastly, there are the expressive theories. Expressionists are more concerned with the artist and the personal expression put into the work. Also, because art is a method of communication, expressive theories
The form of the work of art is not the main focus of the paper
Art has evolved and regenerated itself many times during our human existence. These differences are defined through changes in styles under various theories. During the nineteenth and early twentieth century, a style known as Expressionism became popular. During this movement the artists were trying to use their artwork as a tool of expression toward life. It was mainly dominant in the nonrepresentational arts, such as abstract visual arts and music. It also was probably one of the most difficult movements to understand because the whole point of the piece lay within the artist. Not only was it a movement, it defined the act of art as a whole. From the beginning of time, each work of art, excluding replicas, show a way of expressing
Non-conformist to traditional art forms, Conceptualism challenges the viewer to delve into the mindset of the artist. It is often seen as multidimensional as it forces the audience to decipher the artists intentions. This art movement has been completely rejecting the standard ideas of art since the mid-1960’s. Since then, many artists have made a name for themselves by self-consciously expanding the boundaries of art. Many of these artists have said they’ve linked their work to artist Marcel Duchamp.
Art is the theme of art, this means that the main reason artist design different types of art works is to bring about the visual satisfaction. One of the major reason as to why artist paint, draw or design their works is to have something to have look at. Therefore, before a viewer analyses a piece of art, he or she has to look at it as the first and foremost
Müller-Westermann, Iris, David Lomas, Pascal Rousseau, and Helmut Zander. Hilma Af Klint a Pioneer of Abstraction. Stockholm: Moderna Museet, 2013. Print.
Krauss is purely a structuralist and discontent with the terms modernist. Her critic and analysis in this essay is an extension of Greenberg, who believed that the work in objective terms; structure and medium, that later deferred to a subjective response and/or effect; abstraction art. Traditional sculputure had been lost it was not architecture and not
Chapter five is titled “Abstracting” which is a mystery that cannot be perceived to be general or generally understood. The first main point states that abstraction is “incredible simple that it is difficult to perceive its structure.” In other words, abstraction does not present the whole, but an essence in the form of a property that then reveals the whole. For example, a stick figure is related to a human figure, even though it is simple lines that represent the body and a circle representing the head. Another main point indicates that one must ‘know what abstraction is… why it is important… and learn how to find the simple concepts hiding among complex expression.” Most importantly, it is revealed by going beyond the senses into the eye of the mind, providing purity. In order to find abstract one must know it evolved from reality; all the traces from reality were removed, and was reduced to an essential form. The third main point, suggest abstractions in different careers influence each other such as, artistic abstractions lead to scientific and technological benefits. Demonstrated through the invention of taking motion pictures of a horse in the air as an art; leading scientist developing the method to analyzing key bones and limbs. Therefore, abstraction is a never-ending quest for the greatest simplicity and more arcane truths.
Art overall is created and adored by numerous amount of people for many reasons, such as amplifying shared common visual language. The word art often branches into many different movements and components. Modern art or Contemporary art is one those components; this specific genre began mainly in the 1860’s to the 1970’s. During, this time period artists began throwing aside their own beliefs in a spirit of experimentation and the bringing of new ideas. The purpose of Modern art is to beautify one’s surroundings with intrigue, its often very diverse and cannot be easily defined through a list of visual characteristics, artistic themes or cultural concern. Moreover, Modern art is often hard to understand by people because, unlike Egyptian tomb paintings or Greek sculptures, it speaks to the dramatic social, political and technological changes of the last 50-60 years, and questions many of society’s values and assumptions. Also, Modern artists known for incorporating a great deal of abstraction into their works and representational forms to convey their ideas more elaborately; Rene Magritte is one of those artists.