Texts Relating to Aeshtetics Quote

'Once upon a time there was pure art and applied art (I prefer to use these terms, rather than 'fine' and 'commercial' because 'commercial art' does not cover enough ground). At all events, forms were born in secret in ivory towers and fathered by divine inspiration, and Artists showed them only to initiates and only in the shape of paintings and pieces of sculpture: for these were the only channels of communication open to the old forms of art.' 

-Munari, Bruno. (1966) Design as Art. Rome: Editori Laterza

1: ...the term ‘aesthetic’ has come to be used to designate, among other things, a kind of object, a kind of judgment, a kind of attitude, a kind of experience, and a kind of value. The Concept of the Aesthetic: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/aesthetic-concept/

2: Introduction page 2 and 3. The Aesthetic Function of Art
Ralph Alexander Smith, Alan Simpson- 1991

3: Pure Art v Applied Art Blog: http://davetrott.co.uk/2008/09/pure-art-v-applied-art/

Fine Art, Commercial Art, Pure Art and Applied Art

We had to pick 20 images relating to our chosen quote, when picking my images I chose 5 pieces of art that relate to each of my themes within my quote. Once I had collected all 20 images I found it interesting how different Fine Art was compared to Pure Art, the main differences from this was that Pure Art was straight forward and traditional art with its purpose to be admired by an individual. However, Fine Art is much more broad, both in the era each piece was created and in style, from detailed oil paintings to post-modern installation pieces. Seeing this on a page backed up what Bruno Munari was explaining in the quote, that Pure Art was 'Once Upon a Time' and no longer exists.

I found that the difference between Commercial Art and Applied art were more like different things. Commercial art fell into other fields of art, such as graphic design and illustration, especially for brand logos and product images on packaging. For applied art, again, it appears to be more traditional. When I looked up a definition of applied art it mentioned the main influences came from the Arts and Crafts movement, Art Nouveau, Art Deco, Bauhaus and Productivism. These movements focused on making everyday objects a form of art, which was common during the 1900's and still used today frequently.

We paired up and chose a couple of these images to discuss image, idea and context. I chose the Bauhaus style light and the terracotta Waterhouse drawing, as I felt that these two images related to 2 words each.

For the drawing we describes image as a non-distinct time period, the style is almost timeless as it is a standard drawing of a figure. The audience for this type of art is usually limited, especially at the time when it was drawn, it would only be available to people of importance and the artist would often repeatedly draw the same person. The purpose is to gain skill and practice anatomy and is a drawing to inform the artist before they start the painting.

The image of the light is a simple design which is probably mass produced for people to purchase, making it accessible to anyone. The time period is flexible as Bauhaus peaked between 1919-1933 but is still often used today. The simplistic design is to minimise time and price of production in order to be affordable. Similarly to the other image, it has a similar purpose, to be appreciated.

Lastly we discussed how the Warhol print of Marilyn Monroe and the Frosties box actually are the same in terms of image and idea and only differ with context.

20,000 Years of Non-Linear History of the Image Lecture

Today we had a lecture on a selection of movements and types of art through all of history. they were explained in depth so that we could understand what the artist was trying to communicate through the piece or what became of certain pieces of art.

We were first shown cave paintings from 20,000 BC and the link with Modern art such as pieces by Cy Twombly (2001), both were connected with the use of mark making and both wanted to communicate something through these gestures. Richard Long's piece 'Red Earth Circle' which was displayed in the Pompidou Centre in 1989 but caused controversy due to cultural appropriation and the divide between first world and third world people.

The Mona Lisa has been decided to be the most famous painting in the world, why is it this famous? this is emphasised by being kept behind bulletproof glass and a rope barrier. As soon as you enter the Louvre there are directions and signs to the painting. We also looked out how art sparks reactions with people, it is interesting seeing the public's reaction to the Mona Lisa, there are always huge crowds of tourists with their phones out taking selfies or pictures of it. They only experience it through their phone, maybe to just prove they were there or to boast that they have seen it, instead of genuinely admiring the painting. Gallery shops often contain Mona Lisa souvenirs, does this make the painting less famous? instead of taking ourselves to the painting the painting then comes to us and is around us.

This is why some galleries or exhibitions won't allow people to take images of paintings, as they can be distributed and viewed globally without the gallery having any control.

The last part of the lecture was about how artists send powerful messages through artwork. To start off we looked at American Politics posters by Shepard Fairey, He created the hope poster of Obama and then changed his own design a few years later when he possibly lost faith in him. He has since done a mockery poster in the same style of Donald Trump stating 'nope' instead of hope.

Another example is war photography, this photographer had no power when villages were getting attacked so photographed civilians a second before death, these images created very powerful emotions when being viewed as it is the last recorded document of all of these people existing. The effect of this links in with Victorian post-mortem photography, where people after death were dressed up and photographed so that they could be remembered and live forever.

Visual Literacy Lecture

The visual literacy lecture was very interesting, especially learning about how widely recognised signs and symbols are over spoken languages, it emphasised the importance of how design communicates beyond how words can and that pictures can be read. 'For any language to exist is an agreement that one thing will stand for another' was a very helpful quote for this lecture as I realised that the understanding of these signs, gestures and objects needs to be shared.

I also learnt how minimalist designs are very effective for recognisable symbols as this way we can easily make connections with what the symbol is trying to communicate. Visual literacy was defined as the ability to construct meaning from visual images and type, interpreting images of the present, past and a range of cultures.

There was an example of how the apple logo relates strongly to an actual apple, so people will see connections between the two, which helps with the marketing of apple. Every object has the capacity to stand for something other than what is apparent.

Visual synecdoche- when a part is used to represent a whole, e.g The Statue of Liberty for New York. 

Visual metaphor- Used to transfer the meaning from one image to another, e.g Apple.

Visual metonym- Symbolic image.

Most of these designs that we recognise are through our upbringing and are taught, however an example from where we have to sit and learn visual codes is for a driving theory test, as in this situation it is essential that we must understand these signs in order to drive safely.

An example of a simple symbol that has multiple meanings is a cross, from looking at a cross we assume that it could be within the subject of religion (Christianity), first aid/hospital, country flags, mathematical and even charity signs. The way we distinguish these meanings from the cross is the context that its in, such as colour and the way in which the cross is displayed.

Overall I have learnt that I would have memorised many visual signs which help me understand what I need to do from a simple design alone and the importance of this especially between different spoken languages as this is a shared language. This technique can also be used for commercial purposes to draw attention to an image and make us memorise it.

Investigating Quotes

'Once upon a time there was pure art and applied art (I prefer to use these terms, rather than 'fine' and 'commercial' because 'commercial art' does not cover enough ground). At all events, forms were born in secret in ivory towers and fathered by divine inspiration, and Artists showed them only to initiates and only in the shape of paintings and pieces of sculpture: for these were the only channels of communication open to the old forms of art.' 

-Munari, Bruno. (1966) Design as Art. Rome: Editori Laterza

Today our group looked into this quote about aesthetics. From the quote we highlighted the words 'pure art', 'applied art', 'fine', 'commercial' and 'channels of communication' and explored the meanings behind these words. We summarised each word, for pure art we defined it as simple and easy to understand, it communicates a clear idea of what you see is what you get in a traditional form.

Applied art is the application of design and decoration to everyday objects to make them aesthetically pleasing. The term can be applied to fine art which aims to produce objects which are beautiful and/or provide intellectual stimulation, so the two often overlap. For fine art we also wrote that it is a visual art where objects or works are appreciated for their aesthetic, creative or intellectual content.

Commercial art was simply defined as art used in advertising and selling. Channels of communication refer to the way this information flows within the organisation. Different channels are illustration, media, press, social media, advertising, newspaper, magazines, radio and television.

We found another quote to back this up. 'The designer today re-establishes the long lost contact between the art and the public between living people and art as a living thing'.

I found learning about the similarities and differences between these types of art interesting as they often overlap and relate to each other as they are so broad. However, each of them serve a different purpose, such as for commercial art it is mass produced and distributed whereas fine art was/is generally unique and individual pieces are displayed privately in a house or publicly in a gallery. Within this each type has changed a lot over the years due to the demand and movement of the time.