Ways Of Seeing

standards of art and its views on social roles” (Hamilton, 114). White Western society plays the

In a world that has become immune to accepting all types of art, Marya Mannes believes we have lost our standards and ability to identify something as “good” or “bad”. In her essay, “How Do You Know It’s Good”, she discusses society’s tendency to accept everything out of fear of wrongly labelling something as being good or bad. She touches on various criteria to judge art, such as the artist’s purpose, skill and craftsmanship, originality, timelessness, as well as unity within a piece rather than chaos. She says that an individual must decide if something is good “on the basis of instinct, experience, and association” (Mannes). I believe that by using standards and the process of association, we will be able to judge what makes an art piece good in comparison to others. However, Mannes forces me to consider the difference between what may be appealing versus what is actually good, and when deciding which art we should accept, which is truly more important. I believe that “good” and “bad” are two ends of a large, subjective spectrum of grey area. It is possible for a piece of art to be good in some areas and bad in others, and if something does not live up to all of our standards, it does not necessarily mean it should be dismissed. Thus, I believe my personal standards for judging art are based on which my standards are largely based on the personal reaction evoked from a piece of art. Though I agree with Mannes’ standards to an extent, I believe that certain standards, such as evoking a personal response, can be more telling of if a piece of art is good as opposed to its timelessness, or the level of experience of an artist in his/her craft.

Art is not always pleasant, but neither is society. Art and society have a reflective relationship with one another. During social, religious, and political controversy, artists such as Frida Kahlo incorporated imagery into their portraits of society which are often disturbing to the viewer. The role of an artist often includes acting as a social critic, to show us aspects of our cultural landscape that are unpleasant. In this manner, the art acts as a commentary on the negative aspects of Western civilisation. During the thirties and forties, Kahlo incorporated the hidden realities of economic and social depression into her works.

In the contemplation of art, or rather the conceptually intangible definition it currently possess, it is imperative to be mindful that “art” has been utilized as a promotional device, ceremonial item, aesthetically purposed article or perhaps none of these or all. It is because of this vague term that Carolyn Dean, in her text, “The Trouble with (The Term) Art”, makes a case for the consequences of applying the term “art” in societies that lacked such a notion which also accounts for the Western-centric lens the field intrinsically utilizes when viewing non-Western art. The claim is deftly supported by the utilization of expert accounts in the subject, alternative perspectives for what is considered the current norm, and self-examining questions,

Throughout time, history has been recorded from the perspective of the victors. It is this bias within the archives that shape the views and motives of the groups involved. As a result of this influence the general way of thinking, and recollection of historical events has been altered to a certain degree to conform to the conqueror’s ideals. Society turns a blind eye to the horrors of the past, preferring to plead ignorance than to face the reality of the cruelty humans are capable of. There are parts in history that conversely cannot be ignored, such as the genocide in Rwanda, 9-11, Terror in Paris and the most historical, the holocaust in World War II, where the true extent of human vindictiveness came to light. In spite

Throughout history, many have been oppressed because of their race, religion and gender, resulting them to lose their rights and freedom. Despite the fact that freedom is natural rights of a human being, it has come to a point where the oppressed demands and fights for their freedom because the oppressor does not give freedom willingly. Although human rights have evolved over the years, humans still fail to learn from their mistakes, resulting in history to repeat itself. Through storytelling and novels, people show depictions of history to honour those who have died and to educate younger generations to prevent unfortunate events from occurring again. As a result of this, Lawrence Hill and Alice Walker display oppression through abuse,

In addition, I will examine the differences between male and female sexuality and how each tended to be perceived and treated by society. Then, I will look at prominent female artists and their personal experiences and beliefs on feminism and the female in their art focusing on how it tended to be received along how male artists responded to it. Mainly, I will be analyzing the clash of sexualized images in art, focusing on the differences not only between male made art versus female art, but the differences in the women’s art community, as well. What are the reasons and goals for women to use a “sexualized image” of women in their art versus

I fell in love with methodologies of art history. I felt empowered in that, through my own interpretations, I could attach words and meaning to objects. My study of art history reached a turning point when, in 2012, I took a class entitled Identity in a Post-Identity Art World: Gender, Race, Sexuality, and Trans/Nationality, 1990 to the Present. The course endowed me with another lens with which to examine works and, more importantly, shed light on representations of marginalized identities. As a result, I was introduced to the writings of Judith Butler and Simone de Beauvoir, both seminal theorists who inspired my own analyses. I enjoyed every minute of conducting research and forming arguments to support my claims. Ultimately I was interested in developing my understanding of issues in contemporary art further and sought to accomplish this by engaging with a larger

n reflecting on this week’s readings, I can see the connection between the previous readings on the Harlem Renaissance and the one on Abstract Expressionism, especially as it relates to art being used for social change. Just as our society was moving at a fast pace, so was our art. Looking back, it’s amazing to see how racism, women’s rights and war brought on so many different attitudes and the art of the 20th century represented these different ideas. As it relates to war, many people were concerned about the dangers of democracy, while others emphasized patriotism. In either case, you can see a split between people’s perceptions and beliefs. It’s clear that most of the artist of the 20th century that we discussed were always on the cutting edge toward cultural change. Their shocking and innovative techniques reflected the changing values that represented a forever changing society; and often times their art helped shaped our culture, and at the same time, reflected that culture back on to us. From all the different art movements discussed during this course, this week’s readings represents the changing role they art is beginning to play in the political area. I believe that art plays a vital role in democracy, by creating openness and the freedom of expression. It’s amazing how art, be that it through a painting, literature, sculpting or through music can bring about change. Art really makes an impact on our culture and society, from instilling values or by changing opinions. It seems at the heart of every major change throughout our history, you will find an artist that created that change through his or her works. We form our ideas by seeing,

History has had an inarguable and behemoth impact on the trajectory of art and literature that it surrounds. Quite often, these mediums are a mere reflection of the artist's or author’s existence, and can be viewed as heavily autobiographical, regardless if the artist acknowledges this or not. In fact, many artists and authors will deny that their work is influenced by outside events, and wish to attest that their productions are sporadically born out of the creative abyss of their minds. However, this is absolutely false, since that mind is undoubtedly affected by external stimuli. Consequently, it is an undeniable premise that history changes the course of literature.

Art history: a useless pondering over sketches that have little significance to life, at least this is the notion held by many. Delving into art history is a slippery slope that requires more than any one person knows. James F. Cooper and Alan Wallach explore the considerations art historians go through to decipher the relevancy of artworks. However, James F. Cooper’s arguments retro and one-track minded, while Alan Wallach’s arguments on which artworks to pick apart, the methods to attack them, and the reasons people spend so long analyzing a piece of paper are far more relevant to today’s emerging standards.

In today’s world, marketers and advertisers are fighting for every spot they get to display their ads and market their products. The ultimate aim is to get as much exposure as possible. This in turn, they hope, will translate into sales. The literature “Ways of Seeing – Part 7” underlines the theory of publicity. I chose this literature because it elucidates the backbone of marketing and advertising – publicity. It interests me because designers and advertisers revolve their careers around for many years in order to obtain ‘Publicity’.

Art is a catalyst of change. It can confront both social and political issues as well as providing people with a creative outlet in which they can express their innermost thoughts and feelings - but what effect can art have on our society as a whole? Artists today have the unique ability to connect with people in a creative, innovative way that they can understand and interpret themselves. With this ability, artists are able to express their own views as well as influencing the views of others. Art is an immense part of our world – so much so that we barely even consider its impact upon us – but just how significant is the work of artists in our modern day society?

In literature, history is crucial. History is society’s choice of which truth to present to the public as a way of hiding shameful pasts and controlling civilization. The use of history in literature represents how deception of society becomes a cycle of ignorance. Often times in literature, the author alters history to present a new version of the story, regardless of the fact that altering history could change an entire society’s beliefs. Ignorance of personal history provides society the opportunity to live daily lives without the burden of past transgressions weighing them down, but the ignorance comes at a cost of moral destruction. Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness and Natasha Tretheway’s Native Guard feature main characters who experience affects of the alteration of history, and in turn these adverse affects destroy their morals. Throughout history, soiled memories hide behind a more polished version of truth, which in turn creates a civilization bound to repeat the errors in ignorance. With the manipulation of history, distorted memories stem from warped versions of the past, which in turn creates a civilization bound to repeat the errors in ignorance.

For over two thousand years, various philosophers have questioned the influence of art in our society. They have used abstract reasoning, human emotions, and logic to go beyond this world in the search for answers about arts' existence. For philosophers, art was not viewed for its own beauty, but rather for the question of how art and artists can help make our society more stable for the next generation. Plato, a Greek philosopher who lived during 420-348 B.C. in Athens, and Aristotle, Plato’s student who argued against his beliefs, have no exceptions to the steps they had to take in order to understand the purpose of art and artists. Though these two philosophers made marvelous discoveries about the existence of art, artists, and