Sample:Art in Everyday Life
From ZuluNotes - Free Leaving Cert Notes
| Sample:Art in Everyday Life | |
|---|---|
| |
| Subject: | English |
| Paper | 1 |
| Section | The Essay |
| Question | 3 |
| Level | O/H |
| By | source |
Art in its various forms, is all around us. It’s in the architecture of buildings, the graphic design on billboards, the colour schemes of shop and houses and the composition of shop window displays. It could even be said that nature itself is art. Since the beginning of time landscapes, plants and trees have provided the inspiration for a myriad of works of art. The ‘plein air’ landscapes of the 19th century Impressionists have provided probably the most lucid examples of nature’s powerful artistic beauty.
Art in its conventional sense – painting, design, sculpture, and craft – has existed for almost as long as humans. Over the millennia it has evolved functioning in many different roles. In prehistoric cave paintings images of women were believed to be fertility symbols. During the middle ages art played a dominant role in cathedrals edifying the illiterate on stories from the Bible. Renaissance art mirrored Humanist thinking which placed man at the centre of God’s creation and therefore of unlimited potential. Think Michelangelo’s 14-foot statue of David. It doesn’t get much more powerful than that. The 19th century proved to be an era of unprecedented scientific, technological, and geographical exploration. Art followed suit as the Impressionists pushed the frontiers of classical painting beyond belief.
Which brings us more or less to the present and begs an important question. What role does art play in our everyday life? Many people fell alienated from art. The deeply personal nature of abstract modern art has long baffled the masses. Conceptual artists who create masterworks such as stacks of sheets of blue paper and artists who speak in terms of arousing conflicts and questions in the mind of the viewer have been greeted with cynicism and apathy. Beauty may be in the eye of the beholder but television has taught us to sit back an observe while the artist does all the work. Most of us find dealing with questions on the philosophical aspects of life as posed by squares and circles unappealing if not downright boring.
Probably the least palatable aspect of modern art is the personalities associated with it. Patrons of the arts are seen in much the same light as the story of ‘The Emperor’s New Clothes’ – spewing verbosity and pomp but secretly insecure and ignorant. Young artists frequently indulge in the artistic equivalent of ‘tabloid politics’. The well known sculpture of a double bed with kitchen utensils and vegetables strategically placed is seen by many as deliberately vulgar. Yet it won prizes and was critically acclaimed, reinforcing the belief that nobody college term papers
really knows what it’s all about anyway.
With the opening of the Millennium Dome and the Tate Modern recently in London, modern art has come to the forefront of media coverage. This has served to highlight the gulf between it and the public. There seems to be no veritable u-turn in the development of art from its present course. But the previous forms of art point to a serious issue which should be confronted. In the past art reflected if not everyday life the generally held beliefs. And it worked. Modern art is a flight of fantasy by a group of individuals. It reflects neither general beliefs nor is generally believed in. a question mark hangs over its effectiveness. Has the time come for a change?
