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But is it Art? - Blood and Beauty
The first chapter in But is it Art? , Blood and Beauty, can be very appalling to some readers as it starts out with details of bloody art forms. For example, the author states that at a conference, artists on stage were using blood as part of their performance. This chapter was mainly about some artists and their artworks creating a disturbance to some people as what they use to create their artwork. The author then goes on to ask if this art has good taste or if it is beautiful. She talks about Hume and Kant and what they think distinguishes an artwork of good taste. Hume believes that education and experience are what lead to decide what authors and artworks are the best. Kant believes that taste has more to do with the judgment of beauty. He thinks beautiful objects please us and they are purposive. In the end, the author states that art does not only include works of formal beauty but also works that are ugly and disturbing. I agree with the author. All artists have their own style and their own way of thinking that can make their artwork great and beautiful. But still artists using blood or urine to create art can be disgusting and not very beautiful to me just interesting.
In Chicana Art the four artworks I chose were:
1. Number 5- Mis Madres/My Mothers- the artist here represent the American Indian or mestiza elder holding up the planet in her left hand. She glows like the starts around her. Her size and silhouette convey a sense of dignity of the woman. The silk-screen inscribes into the cultural consciousness the importance of the American Indian, the female, and the elderly.
2. Number 6- Cosmic Cruise/Paseo Cosmico- this painting represents the history of the artist’s mother as the first women to drive in her agricultural labor camp. The significance of this art can be described as spiritual showing the movements through culturally multiple notions of time and space.
3. Number 7-The Nanny- This was made to show the differences between races and class. As most nannies are stereotyped to be Latinas or European women hence the uniforms is between an airline poster of going to Mexico and a wool industry one.
4. Number 8- Immigrant Woman’s Dress- the dress belonged to the artist’s grandmother who fled from the Mexican Revolution to the United States. The installation has much significance. The basket with the shawl and two small bags of corn and chile lying over it symbolize protection and nourishment. It being lit from behind makes a ghostly effect that expresses the idea of barely visible. It mostly just signifies the tension of limited movement of women within patriarchal cultures and their vulnerability.
I chose these artworks to read about because as I was looking through the book, their titles and pictures caught my attention and looked interesting.
7 comments:
I think this reading is one of the most interesting readings, that have been assigned in this class so far. It is gross in some part, but it makes you think deeper about these types of art that we would normally just describe as weird. It is true that art work is not just beautiful and appealing to the eye, but it is also gross, because some feelings people are expressing arent just pretty and nice. At first I was really disturbed by the Piss Christ piece, but after this chapter it isn't so bad anymore.
I agree that this reading was very interesting and eye opening. Art is creative and individually expressive, so that what one person sees as art is never the same as what another person sees. Also, I think the purpose of art is to be controversial and spark criticism. The most notable is the Piss Christ one, and before looking at the title, I saw the picture, and to me it was beautiful. There was a strong aura and glow to the picture, and it seemed peaceful, like Christ was simply floating in this bubble. The message behind is very different, according to the title and many times it comes across as offensive. With the Chicana art, I really like how in each piece there was a meaning and some sort of symbolism behind the painting. It came across to me as expressing culture and leaving the viewer with a different thought.
So the whole time I am reading this, I am thinking "Why are we reading this again?" We had already read about the gross things people had done in art, those things that struck people very powerfully and I then started to think about the power structures and how they could ply a part in this. The most obvious one that comes to mind is the Christian church that has hovered over me for my entire life. My faith has always been important to me and I have always been taught to hold holy those things which pertain to Christ and God, so even though there are people who really believe Piss Christ is art, I won't and can't bring myself to change my views. And I think that we make conscious decisions on what we can and cannot change about our ideas on art based on what we have been taught all of our lives. Even the general use of blood in art, as compared to blood in religion and the ideas. Maybe someone thinks they are using those ideas with their art work, but for me its just too tough to see.
I think that this was a very interesting reading to go and re-read. I have never thought of blood or other bodily functions as having anything to do with art. I suppose seeing things like that as art depend on how you view these bodily functions, just as the author stated. At first I thought I could never see how something called "Piss Christ" could ever been seen as art, but then as the author explained how the artist felt that this was what society was doing to his religion, I began to understand a little more. I still do not necessarily see "Piss Christ" as tasteful art, but I can understand where the artist was coming from.
I really liked this reading. Most of the other readings are very plain and not exciting but the whole reading about using blood and urine for art work was really interesting. It's crazy that artists thought to use bodily fluids to project their artistic abilities and talents. I have always known that art doesn't always have to be beautiful and these artworks by these odd artists definately prove that statement.
I think this is definitely the most interesting and easiest book to read so far. The artwork is more shocking and provocative to me than in the other readings. I agree the Piss Christ was disturbing and surprising, but once I was able to read more about it I kind of understood how the artist was justifying it.
This reading had its pros and cons for me. I was happy that finally it was something that I found interesting, but what I didnt like was that it made it seem like anything can be art. I understand that everyone has there own opionon on what constitutes as art, but personally I think intense talent and skill makes art. And I just felt like it seemed as the author as trying to make it so anything could be art, and I disagree.
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