The very idea of art!. Why art? I AM! (existential)

The very idea of art!

Why art? • I AM! (existential)

Human Figure, 2nd century B.C.–1st century A.D.Old Bering Sea peoples; AlaskaIvory (walrus); H. 3 3/4 in. (9.5 cm)

Why art? • I AM! (existential)

• magic/spiritual

Why art? • I AM! (existential)

• magic/spiritual

• expression – the pleasure of feeling feelings!

Goya, Executions of the Third of May, 1808 1814-15

textp. 340

not practical

Why art? • I AM! (existential)

• magic/spiritual

• expression

• aesthetic pleasure

Bowl with Pair of Rabbits, mid-9th–12th centuryMimbres peoples; New Mexico

Ceramic; H. 2 1/2 in.

(two views)

Jar with Four Faces, mid-13th–mid-15th centuryCasas Grandes peoples; Chihuahua

Ceramic; H. 8 11/16 in. (22.3 cm)

Bannerstone, ca. 2000 B.C.Archaic peoples; Ohio

Banded slate; H. 2 5/16 in. (5.9 cm

Bierstadt, AlbertAmong the Sierra Nevada Mountains, California

1868, Oil on canvas, 183 x 305 cm text

p. 345

Why look at a sunset?

Why art? • I AM! (existential)

• magic/spiritual

• expression

• aesthetic pleasure

• the pleasure of LOOKING

Sheeler, CharlesBucks County Barn, 1923, Tempera and crayon on paper19 5/8 x 26 in

Diebenkorn, RichardOcean Park No. 1151979Oil on canvas100 x 81 in

Sargent, John SingerThe Daughters of Edward D. Boit1882Oil on canvas87 3/8 x 87 5/8 in

Sargent, John SingerThe Daughters of Edward D. BoitDetail1882Oil on canvas

Why art? • the pleasure ofbeing fooled?(a special case

of the pleasure of looking?)

Sargent, John SingerThe Daughters of Edward D. Boit1882Oil on canvas87 3/8 x 87 5/8 in

Is art about the way things look or the way we

see?(Is art necessarily a thing or

object?)

Robert Smithson, Spiral Jetty, 1970See textbook p. 439

Is art a thing or a process? An object or

an idea? Is an image an idea?

Robert Smithson, Spiral Jetty, 1970See textbook p. 439

Spiral Jetty

Spiral Jetty, 2003

Meret Oppenheim, Fur covered cup, saucer, and spoon, 1936 (a.k.a. The Object)

Do you need to see this to “get it” – or is the photo itself enough?

Andy GoldsworthyKnotweed Stalks Pushed into Lake BottomFebruary 20 and March 8-9, 1988Derwent Water, Cumbria© Andy Goldsworthy

Andy GoldsworthyEnds of BambooNovember 1987Kinagashima-Cho, Japan© Andy Goldsworthy

An example of Pre-Columbian art

What is the ‘art’?

The idea, the image, or the

object?

Perhaps the uncanny superposition of all

three . . .

Oleg Popov