Why Is Art Important?

Discussion in 'Art' started by RichardTheFrog, Nov 16, 2014.

  1. RichardTheFrog

    RichardTheFrog Newbie

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    No, it wasn't.
     
  2. Dancing in the Mists

    Dancing in the Mists Member

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    Assuming you mean Frost's "The Road Not Taken," this is one of the most frequently misunderstood and misinterpreted poems. If you actually read the poem, in the fourth stanza, he looks back upon his decision with a sigh. This sigh is most likely one of regret.


    If you actually study art history, you will find that a lot of art is relevant to social movements. There are so many hidden political messages within impressionism and modernism. The creation of art is an effective way to convey a message without just blathering about it. Look at Gustave Courbet's piece "The Stonebreakers." Painted in 1845, it was revolutionary really. In a time when most art was created in the style of the salon portraying relaxing and pretty images, Courbet made a statement about the plight of the poor. The image is almost violent with the hammers, and it came shortly before the French revolution. Viewers found it to be remarkably uncomfortable. At the time, it was not very well received, and now it is an exceptionally important piece of art history.

    Contemporary art is more difficult to understand. Pieces may still make statements, but often, the pieces are selling the artist's ideas rather than technical skill. As a meticulous artist myself, I struggle with this. I highly value craftsmanship, and if I have an idea, statement, emotion, etc that I want to convey, I am going to do it to the best of my ability.
     
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  3. RichardTheFrog

    RichardTheFrog Newbie

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    That makes sense. Other than the fact that the French Revolution was in 1789.

    You're probably referring to the revolutions that occurred throughout central Europe in 1848.
     
  4. Dancing in the Mists

    Dancing in the Mists Member

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    The one most referred to was from 1789-1799 I believe, but France had more than one revolution. The one I am referring to specifically is sometimes call the "February Revolution" or the French Revolution of 1848.
     
  5. RichardTheFrog

    RichardTheFrog Newbie

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    Well alright then. But if you're going to say "The French Revolution," then obviously people are going to think of the big one with Marie Antionette followed by all that Napoleon stuff.
     
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  6. Dancing in the Mists

    Dancing in the Mists Member

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    It would seem so. That's why I didn't capitalize "the" or "revolution," but I should have been more specific.
     
  7. RichardTheFrog

    RichardTheFrog Newbie

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    You work in mysterious ways.
     
  8. Dancing in the Mists

    Dancing in the Mists Member

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    I'm a stickler for proper capitalization, so when I don't, it's a big deal to me. I forget that most people are not as obsessive as I am!
     
  9. Meliai

    Meliai Banned

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    the thought of a world without art seems really barren to me.
     
  10. RichardTheFrog

    RichardTheFrog Newbie

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    I bet you're a stickler for a lot of things.
     
  11. Laci

    Laci Members

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    You asked what was more important to me: science or art.

    I think they're equally important. If someone finds something to be beautiful, makes them happy, and allows them to express themselves without harming myself or others.....let it be.
     
  12. Karen_J

    Karen_J Visitor

    Art is a mental, emotional, spiritual, and psychological journey that takes a lifetime to experience. Nobody can explain it well in a few paragraphs.

    They are not in competition.
     
  13. Moonglow181

    Moonglow181 Lifetime Supporter Lifetime Supporter

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    nor should they be in competition.....:)
     
  14. AceK

    AceK Scientia Potentia Est

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    OP: you say you are a "science guy" ... i've always noticed that certain "technical" things, such as writing software code and certain other types of engineering are both art and a science. such things require you to use both sides of your brain, the technical logical side, and the creative artsy side at the same time. think about it, coding software surely requires quite a bit of specific technical knowlege about machines, the nature of the architecture/environment, logic, etc .. but it also requires a lot of creativity too, the ability to come up with something completely new to solve a particular problem. often there can be many ways to solve a particular problem, not just one, so there is lots of flexibility there.
     
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  15. RooRshack

    RooRshack On Sabbatical

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    To build on that:

    Consider the inherent beauty of some logic or logical systems - art is (at least part of it, or it can be) when you take the beauty and separate it, and abandon logical rules that might handicap it, and build beauty for the sake of beauty.

    The problem is that I'm not sure you understand beauty in the same way I do, or that it can exist as more than a vague logical concept to you - see my previous post about taking acid.
     
  16. RichardTheFrog

    RichardTheFrog Newbie

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    I've done acid about 1000 times.

    Yea the Eiffel Tower. Another good example of science meeting art. The Pyramids, so many other examples as well...
     
  17. IamnotaMan

    IamnotaMan I am Thor. On sabba-tickle. Still available via us

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    The saying is "the art of the science, and the science of the art".
    Leonardo da Vinci, Lewis Carroll, Francis Bacon and many others did both.
    And found one reinforced their understanding of the other.

    I think the pt is that you should only bother with art that means something to you.
    Only idiots pretend they like something because others tell them to.

    I mean Reubens is all about some fat woman surrounded by naked 3 yr old boys. I mean that is WEIRRRRRD to me. However, its actually all about symbolism and stuff, so should mean something to someone who has read up on all the classical mythology and politics/concept of beauty in the era it was painted. I still think its shit tho.

    Even the most purely scientific person can appreciate art. I'm sure he listens to music, has opinions on the type of house he likes to live in, the decoration of a home/restaurant/bar. He probably has favourite films, MAYBE likes certain photos/paintings in his home.

    And what is considered art changes over time. Shakespeare was not considered to be a great writer early on, and many great painters died without ever getting fame or fortune. If you like how something looks/reads/sounds then that is art to you. Don't say how wonderful something is, when you really think it looks shite. Thats what makes art look ridiculous.
     
  18. RichardTheFrog

    RichardTheFrog Newbie

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    I don't like any music. I used to be into it when I was younger. I used to play Jimi Hendrix solos behind my back with a wa pedal, etc.

    I just grew out of it. I don't watch television. I don't watch movies. I don't read fiction.

    I do appreciate home decorations. If I had the money to do so, I would decorate with some sort of anthropology, tribal things like African masks and Amazon stuff and things of that nature.

    I also like visually pleasing air-fresheners that only cost $1.
     
  19. tonydoe420

    tonydoe420 Banned

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    It's important because it is a manifestation of freedom.

    The freedom to exprees, the freedom to choose.

    the messages can be infinatly varied like the people who look at art, but they share this in common.

    You could go into how people use art, and their motivations for why they need a specific kind of art, but that is the surface symptom of the need to have choice.

    In some societies, choice is everywhere so art has less meaning in the context of their lives. Others have very little choice and art is one of the few ways someone can communicate with themselves or others.

    All of this viewing, collecting and choosing art is as manifestation of expression which is freedom of choice.

    • Art is used as a metaphor for so many things that we can't or don't want to express literally. Metaphor and literality are equal and opposite so we need as many metaphors as literal expressions ergo art is necessary to balance the literal in the world.
     
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  20. RichardTheFrog

    RichardTheFrog Newbie

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    Not all artists are free. What about the Jewish prisoners who were forced to counterfeit money in the concentration camps.

    Hitler was an artist. Look at him.

    Really makes you think, doesn't it?

    I think I heard that Leonardo da Vinci was secretly a child molester. I can't entirely account for the accuracy of that. I think I saw in on the History Channel. Or maybe I just made it up. I'm not sure.
     

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