Art criticism

[sundarramchand]

Art Criticism

In this painting, the artist has made a very strong statement about the human condition .

The canvas is pregnant with possibilities. The infinite and the void seem to merge.

The artist has captured the trembling moment of creation when something bursts out of the void.

There is a strong element of subjectivity where the superposition of possibilities is quantum mechanically destroyed by the observer .

In this painting, the artist has captured the human predicament characterized by post-modernist angst and fractured human consciousness and space-time.

In summary, the artist has tapped into an elemental force of energy where everything emerges out of nothingness and nothing emerges out of everything (!).


Footnote :

The painting contains a small dot in the middle of an otherwise empty canvas !!

[sundarramchand]

This is an attempt at a very, very light satire of an art criticism almost bordering on an attempt at being a criticism itself but this is just a hypothetical parody and is not aimed at anyone in particular. Of course, i consider myself a follower of writing in general and not of art but i think art criticism has its own literary merits aside from its importance in artistic circles.

Looking back at this piece, i feel that the critic attempts to see the real significance of a piece of art which may not have been obvious to the artists themselves and hence may even see value in a piece that has been discarded by the artistic circle.

This , i think is less true of writing, since writing is a far more self conscious activity and though one can keep drawing out meanings, it is more difficult to see meaning in a piece unless the poet / writer has intended to imbue it with meaning

[stlukesguild]

The artist is the creator of beautiful things. To reveal art and conceal the artist is art's aim. The critic is he who can translate into another manner or a new material his impression of beautiful things.
The highest as the lowest form of criticism is a mode of autobiography...

All art is at once surface and symbol. Those who go beneath the surface do so at their peril. Those who read the symbol do so at their peril. It is the spectator, and not life, that art really mirrors.

Oscar Wilde

[sundarramchand]

I should add, no piece can really be without complete meaning and hence the value and significance of "criticism" is reinforced.

[hillwalker]

Surprisingly observers often discover deeper meanings or interpret far more from pieces of art (and indeed writing) than was ever intended by the creator. That's not to undervalue the intelligence of the creator or suggest the critic is being over-pretentious. I guess it shows that art is a two-way street - the astute observer playing as important a role as the original creator.

I thought your tongue-in-cheek parody was spot on by the way.

H

[Climacus]

The artist is the creator of beautiful things . . .This seems right to me, for all its simplicity. It rightly stresses the poietic nature of art too.


To reveal art and conceal the artist is art's aim . . .
But this is dubious. The latter condition is not, I think, a necessary condition.

[Climacus]

I should add, no piece can really be without complete meaning . . .
I'm not so sure of this myself, though I mightn't know what you mean by "complete" meaning. It seems to me at least possible that a work of art - something beautiful created for beauty's sake - be without meaning.

Edit: I'm thinking here of objective meaning, something intrinsic to the work. Rather than subjective meaning, foisted on the work extrinsically.

[cafolini]

I'm not so sure of this myself, though I mightn't know what you mean by "complete" meaning. It seems to me at least possible that a work of art - something beautiful created for beauty's sake - be without meaning.

Ridiculous. Meaning, whatever something is, comes with it.

[Climacus]

Meaning, whatever something is, comes with it.
How about meaningless things? "Married bachelor" is a two-word term. And a term is a thing. But "married bachelor" is meaningless. The term doesn't point to anything; thus, the term has no meaning.

“For a single referring expression to have a meaning, it suffices that it should be possible in suitable circumstances to use it to refer to some one thing, person, place, etc” (Strawson, An Introduction to Logic Theory).

[cafolini]

How about meaningless things? "Married bachelor" is a two-word term. And a term is a thing. But "married bachelor" is meaningless. The term doesn't point to anything; thus, the term has no meaning.

“For a single referring expression to have a meaning, it suffices that it should be possible in suitable circumstances to use it to refer to some one thing, person, place, etc” (Strawson, An Introduction to Logic Theory).

There you go again. Ha! Don't you realize that if it had no meaning you wouldn't even be able to talk about it? It might not even be a contradiction.
In a planet far away a prerequisite for being married is that you be a bachelor and remain bachelor for the duration of the marriage. Any violation is considered adultery and the criminals are quartered by ropes and crocodile horses with wings.
:yikes:

[skib]

To reflect on the OP's explanation of the piece, this is a true story: I was wandering through an art show at the University of Wyoming a few years back and came across a piece that was described as a 'violent, vivid outburst of emotion that captured the sheer velocity of the inspiration.'
Whatever the hell that means, I don't know. This is what it was critiquing:
A full sheet of drywall that someone had taken a claw hammer to making a single downward angled gash, ripped the hammer out and left the **** on the floor. Then said 'artist' awkwardly stuck a 90 degree bit of copper pipe into the drywall a few inches below the gash, and turned it in.

[Darcy88]

Don't you realize that if it had no meaning you wouldn't even be able to talk about it?

I agree. A married bachelor has meaning, its meaning is just contradictory.

[Climacus]

There you go again. Ha! Don't you realize that if it had no meaning you wouldn't even be able to talk about it? It might not even be a contradiction.
Wow . . . :smilielol5:

A bachelor is an "unmarried man." (I'm going to hope you just didn't know what bachelor meant.) "Married bachelor" is synonymous with "married unmarried man." It doesn't get any more contradictory than that, p and not-p. If you think that might not be a contradiction, then you need help. Are you feeling alright?

And of course we can talk about meaningless things. We can all string together meaningless phrases. Example: "There was an unmarried married man who wasn't. He was three inches taller than himself, and three days older than himself. His skin was all white and his skin was all black. All day long he drew four-sided triangles."

[Climacus]

I agree. A married bachelor has meaning, its meaning is just contradictory.

“For a single referring expression to have a meaning, it suffices that it should be possible in suitable circumstances to use it to refer to some one thing, person, place, etc” (Strawson, An Introduction to Logic Theory).

[Jack of Hearts]

Well, way to hijack a thread with a pissing contest.

sundar, it is a very light satire indeed. Having seen uh... challenging art like that, trying to figure out its reason for being, you tend to make up all sorts of funny things. Pieces like "Piss Christ" and Mark Rothko are coming to mind now. What is it- post modernism or something? Real life 'trolling'?

Anyways, this small bit catches enough of that peculiar feeling.




J

[Darcy88]

“For a single referring expression to have a meaning, it suffices that it should be possible in suitable circumstances to use it to refer to some one thing, person, place, etc” (Strawson, An Introduction to Logic Theory).

It refers to a contradiction. A contradiction is a thing, a concept, idea. That is its meaning.

[Calidore]

“For a single referring expression to have a meaning, it suffices that it should be possible in suitable circumstances to use it to refer to some one thing, person, place, etc” (Strawson, An Introduction to Logic Theory).

Sufficient =/= exclusively. For example, a paper cut is sufficient to cause pain, but isn't the only way. Does "suffices that it should be possible in suitable circumstances to use it to" in that quote actually mean "must"?

As has been mentioned, "married bachelor" can be used as an example of a contradiction. Or a writer might also use it whimsically to refer to 1) a man who thinks he's legally married, but actually isn't; 2) a man who, unknown to him, has been married but still believes himself single (or is married but still behaves as if single); or 3) a polygamist--a man who is both married and available.

Your logic is like a big bucket of Gatorade--appropriate in some contexts (dumped on a winning coach) but not in others (dumped on a groom at his wedding). Here we're talking about art and creativity, where the sky's the limit. What exactly are you trying to accomplish?

[WolfLarsen]

If I keep encountering writing like this I'm going to be up all night! Three out of the last four threads contained interesting reading, including this one!

I think the great success of this piece is its uniqueness.

You know what? This is better than most of the stuff I read in the Norton Anthology.

[sundarramchand]

Thanks for all your comments.

"
To reveal art and conceal the artist is art's aim."

I agree with Climacus that this may not be necessarily true. I think true art would be an ideal mix of the subjective and the objective

Thanks Hillwalker you echo my sentiments when you say that the observer (reader in the case of writing is as important as the artist himself)
"
Surprisingly observers often discover deeper meanings or interpret far more from pieces of art (and indeed writing) than was ever intended by the creator. That's not to undervalue the intelligence of the creator or suggest the critic is being over-pretentious. I guess it shows that art is a two-way street - the astute observer playing as important a role as the original creator.

I thought your tongue-in-cheek parody was spot on by the way.

H
"
Climacus, i think poetry contains far more subtle contradictions than "married bachelor" and the latter itself can be made as subtle/natural as possible by how the meaning of the statement emerges with the unfolding of the poem.

As other people have said, even a contradiction has meaning.

If there were no paradoxes. there would be no poetry and the emergence of the reality of the paradox from the reading of the poem would possibly be an uplifting experience

And one can make meaningless combinations of words which may barely qualify as sentences leave alone paradoxes (which i think lies at the very heart of poetry which after all is a beautiful and noble attempt at making sense of rather infusing sense into a marriage of words and images). But again, who is to judge ? The best poet and the artist and their critics would in fact be able to see meaning in any piece without detracting from the value of their criticisms.

I think criticisms are a good example of judgements themselves being creative.

WolfLarsen, thanks again

[sundarramchand]

I think the paintings of Escher come nearest to realization of these "paradoxes" in painting

[sundarramchand]

Thanks !! Yes, that is precisely the spirit in which this was intended