Wednesday, January 18, 2017

The Whole Ball of Wax

This article presented an interesting and refreshing aspect of the role of art in our world both today and in past times. Like art itself, it triggered much thought about art's role on a grand scale and also in daily life. I like to think of art as a trigger, especially a trigger of thought. Works of art are incredibly stimulative to the senses, mind, and person as a whole. While an artist can attempt to captivate their emotions, reactions, thoughts or many other things in their work, he or she is also creating a chain reaction of inspiration, thoughts and feelings for any person who is given the opportunity to view their work.
I had a hard time understanding he cat and dog analogy that was used to describe art at the end of the article. I had an easier time relating to several other  points that Jerry Saltz made. I strongly agreed with the statement that art cannot drastically change large aspects of the world overnight, but rather that it will do so incrementally. I also enjoyed reading about how the furniture from the 70s and 80s eased the mans mind from his emotions of September 11th. The designer of that furniture had no intentions of that furniture ever being able to do such a thing for a person twenty or thirty years after its creation, but that is the power of art.

7 comments:

  1. I agree with what you said about art being a "trigger of thought." While looking at art, one typically reacts to it. Gerber said that art can be "a vacation from the self." Art has the ability to trigger these thoughts and feelings.

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  2. I also liked the part about the 70s and 80s furniture and how it helped the man recover from the aftermath of 9/11. I think this is the best part about art. The person viewing the art can develop a totally different interpretation and meaning than the artist.

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  3. Chrissy,
    I really like your idea of art as a trigger, great word choice! I think people don't realize that all art acts as a trigger, not just the dramatic/ more horrific scenes/images. I also like how you talked about the chain reaction. It reminded me of the iconic Obama poster that we discussed in class. Nowadays an image can go viral and leave its mark on history without having to be the work of a well-known artist.

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  5. I like your play on words that art is a trigger. This really grasps simply the idea that I share as well, art inspires each individual to react differently and I think that's what is so great about it. I didn't get the art as a cat either at first so you're not alone :)

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  6. I enjoyed the part of the article was when Saltz brought up the man who viewed the furniture that helped him ease his mind from the emotions of 9/11 as well. It made me much more comfortable with art. Typically, art is viewed as something that helps the artist relax or relive stress, but it also can be therapeutic to the viewer.

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  7. For me the cat and dog comparison was the easiest to grasp. I thought of it as just because art (cat) is not direct doesn't mean the message wasn't expressed. Such as the article itself. It was very hard to understand with random topics but the message still got across.

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