Aesthetic response

The question of whether beauty is a necessary element of art coupled with whether a certain piece of artwork remains considerable even when it appears disgusting or disturbing linger in the minds of many (Coffrin, 2010). One dimension through which one could attempt to provide feasible answers for this question is through examining the main purpose or function of art or soliciting for benefits that people seek from art (Coffrin, 2010). Once the purpose and benefits attached art is established, it becomes easier to decide whether art can fulfill these functions even when it seems disgusting or disturbing, or it must be beautiful to be considered art (Hicks, 2010).

It can be justifiably argued that it is common for people to responding emotionally and intellectually towards visual images. Also, people have an attempt to recognize often the physical characteristics of something at first glance identifying it as appealing even before thinking about it (Gordon, 2004). Philosophers term this as an aesthetic response. Aesthetic responses vary from person to the next and may associate with some aspect of pleasure. For instance, to some, attraction may be attributed to a particular combination of colors, designs of lines, and creativity in shaping the work rather than the understanding of the meaning some piece of artwork (DeWitte et al., 2012). Following these facts, it deems necessary for art to show aspects of drawing attention. That calls for the necessity of work to be beautiful.

What do artists try to do?

The first thing that artists try to do for people is to bring them together and closer to something (Jones, 2015). That implies that art is all about sharing, and one cannot warrant the title ‘artist’ unless he/she designed some artwork to share an experience, an idea or thought (Gordon, 2004). It is thus essential to do a content analysis of art to deduce what the author tries to communicate (Kahlo, 2005). For instance, one can perform an analysis of aspects of contrast, texture and line as used in a certain work of art. Some sculptural art appears simple but their meaning, if well trimmed is far beyond the drawing of a five-year-old child. The most important part of proficiency in an artist is in their simplistic delivery of ideas (Phillips & Lieberman, 2003). For example, an artist has all it takes to draw a beautiful horse. However, they choose to create impressive objects applying creativity that draws visual experience in a more free way, leaving us unencumbered by the weight of seemingly simple objects. For instance, artists could perfectly mix colors and draw a realistic picture of a person but they mostly do not (DeWitte et al., 2012).

What can we do as viewers to understand contemporary art?

Understanding contemporary art requires a combination a mastery of some conceptions. First it requires an open mind ready to take up a big imagination (V.M, n.d). For example, when one views a piece of art, it’s likely to notice an array of lines, color patterns or a combination of shapes (DeWitte et al., 2012). Apparently, a piece of contemporary art holds no declaration like ‘this is what I am’ implying that any thought of interpretation is feasible. Examples of things to do include: first is the content analysis that allows one to figure out the aim of the author in creating the figure (WAC, 2004). As explained above, the elements that deserve analysis include colors, texture, shape, and contrast among others (DeWitte et al., 2012).

References

Coffrin T. (2010). Must Art be Beautiful.  Larmann R. & Shield M. (2012).Gateways to Arts. Thames and Hudson

Gordon A.(2004). Fine Arts & Illustration. . Why Art Became Ugly.

 Jones J.(2015). Sorry MoMA, video games are not art. 

Kahlo F.(2005). Frida Kahlo’s Work of Art.

Philip & Lieberman M.(2003). Tibetan Buddhist Painting. Tibetan Art, 

Vatican Museums.(n.d). Ceiling. 

Walker Art Center .( 2004). Should art be beautiful?