The Fuctions of Arts

THE FUNCTIONS OF ART Art can be generally classified into two: Directly Functional and Indirectly Functional. a) Directly Functional Art – Art that we use in a daily basis and serves a literal or tangible function in our lives. (e.g. Clothes, Architectural and Engineering, Structures, Money, Furniture) b) Indirectly Functional Art – Art that are ‘perceived through the senses.” Not used literally to live but accompanies life (e.g. Painting, Theatre, Literature) Both Directly Functional and Indirectly Functional Arts tend to cross each other’s paths and change roles or even fuse purposes. Some Directly Functional Art have a sole purpose which is for functionality, but the designs incorporated made the decorative art transcend from its basic form to a highly artistic form of art. Artistic Functions can be classified into 4: 1. Aesthetic 2. Utilitarian 3. Social 4. Cultural 1. Aesthetic Function An artwork functions aesthetically when it becomes an instrument for mankind to be cognizant of its beauty where feelings of joy and appreciation are manifested. 2. Utilitarian Function Art serves this function when it is used to give comfort, convenience, and happiness to human beings. It served basic functions such as clothing, food, and shelter, and other things that make humans live with happiness and ease. 3. Social Function Art serves this purpose when it bridges connection among people. Also when it encourages unity and good relationship among people. With this, people become more understanding and could somehow create a better society. 4. Cultural Function Art serves as an aperture towards skills, knowledge, attitudes, customs, and traditions of different people. The art helps preserve, share and transmit culture of people from one generation to another. PHILOSOPHICAL PERSPECTIVES A. Plato’s Theory Of Mimesis  In his theory if Mimesis, Plato says that all Art is mimetic by nature; art is an imitation of life. He believed that ‘idea’ is the ultimate reality. Art imitates idea and so it is imitation of reality. B. Aristotle’s Theory of Representations  All the Arts have their own techniques and rational principles, and it is through mastery of these that the artist/ craftsman brings his conceptions to life. Yes, the arts fo copy nature but their representations are fuller and more meaningful than nature gives us in the raw. That is their strength. We do not therefore need to insist on some moral purpose for art, which is thus free to represent all manner of things present, past, imagined or institutionally-required. C. Kant’s “L’Art por L’Art( Art for Art’s Sake)  Kant argued the purpose of art is to be ‘purposeless’. It should not have ri justify any reason of existing and being valued other than the fact that it is art. Our experience of art the ways we appreciate and criticize work – is therefore wholly commanded by aesthetic pleasure and delight, separate to the rest of the world.  Practically speaking, it usually meant that art should avoid social, political, and moral themes and concentrate instead on creating beauty, so it really meant “art for the sake of beauty and its elevating effects.” D. Art as an escape  “ The ceremony of art touches the deepest realms of he psyche and he sacred dimension of the artistic creative process. The sacred level of art not only transforms something into art, but also transforms the artist at the very core of his or her being. This way of doing and relating to art makes the process and context of art-making infinitely more important than the product.”  It’s an escape from the hustle and bustle of a long active day of work and meetings. It’s an escape from the chaos that our uncertain thoughts cause within us. It’s an escape our unrelating running footsteps that we focus on more intensely than reminding ourselves to take magical depths of deep breaths. ARTISTIC INTEGRITY Never settle for anything but your absolute best effort – an effort that may be exhausting and frustrating but that will ultimately serve you in good stead as an artist and as a human being. CONSONANCE and DISSONANCE The impression of stability and repose (consonance) in relation to the impression of tension or clash (dissonance) experienced by a listener when certain combinations of tones or notes are sounded together. SCALE and PROPORTION Scale refers to the size of an object (as a whole in relationship to another object (as another whole). In art the size relationship between an object and the human body is significant. Proportion refers to the relative size of parts of a whole (elements within an object). We often think of proportions in terms of size relationships within the human body. CLARITY and RADIANCE A clear design values clarity over novelty. (Clear instead of clever.) Novel for novel’s sake is for designers who create solutions for themselves. Solutions that don’t value goals or problems. Radiance is a type of glowing: either from a light source like the sun or a healthy, beaming person. THE REPRESENTIONAL THEORY States that the fundamental, definitive quality of art is the ability to capture some aspect of reality. THE SUBJECT The Subject of art refers to any person, object, scene or event described or represented in a work of art. Representational )e.g. Paintings, Sculptures, etc.) Non-Representational (e.g. Architectural Structures) Many contemporary painters have turned away from representational to nonobjective painting. They have shifted their attention to the work of art as an object in itself, an exciting combination of shapes and colors that fulfills an aesthetic need without having to represent images or tell a story. Many modern paintings are like this making them more difficult to comprehend. WAYS OF REPRESENTING SUBJECTS REALISM/NATURALISM Generally the attempt to represent subject matter truthfully, without artificiality and avoiding artistic conventions, or implausible, exotic, and supernatural elements. ABSTRACTION The artist selects and renders the objects with their shapes, colors and positions altered. In others, the original objects have been reduced to simple geometric shapes and they can be rarely identified unless the artist named in in title. Artist’s concern is the rendering of the essence of the subjects rather than the natural form itself. DISTORTION Could mean twisting, stretching or deforming the natural shape of the object. It is usually done to dramatize the shape of a figure or to create an emotional effect. SURREALISM It is a method where the artist in giving expression to what it is in the subconscious composes dreamlike scenes that show an irrational arrangement of objects. The images are recognizable, sometimes drawn from the nature but they are so combined in utterly fantastic and unnatural relationships. KINDS AND SOURCES OF SUBJECTS o o o o o o o o o Nature Animals Portrait or Human Figures History and Legends Still Life Religion and Mythology Dreams and Fantasies Cityscapes Seascapes “Beauty is in the Phi of the Beholder.” Dr. Stephen Marquardt has studies human beauty for years in his practice of oral and maxillofacial surgery. Dr. Marquardt performed cross-cultural surveys on beauty and found that all groups had the same perceptions of facial beauty. 1.618:1 This particular relationship is the Golden Ratio. It is a mathematical ratio that seems to appear recurrently in beautiful things in nature as well as in other things that are seen as “Beautiful” THE UGLY AND THE TRAGIC IN ART There is nothing that may be considered as in improper subject when it comes to art. The grotesque the ugly, and the tragic are all legitimate subjects as the pleasurable and the beautiful are. Many, in fact, have often deviated away from the stereotyped and beautiful subjects. The greatest play, movies, and musicals are invariably tragedies. And many our songs speak about love denied or lost. CONTENT (LEVELS OF MEANING) Factual Meaning The literal statement or the narrative content in the work which can be directly apprehended because the objects presented are easily recognized. Conventional Meaning Refers to the special meaning that a certain object or color has a particular culture or group of people. Subjective Meaning Any personal meaning consciously or unconsciously conveyed by the artist using a private symbolism which stems from his own association of certain objects, actions or colors with past experiences.