This past Wednesday our class again met at Piotr Kowalski’s NOW sculpture but instead of doing another activity involving the actual sculpture Professor Glen Zucman wanted to show us that all art isn’t intentional and it can be found almost everywhere and anywhere. Thus resulted in our class breaking off into groups of 4-6 and finding our “art”.
Our artistic piece is very fun and different from others in the class. Most were 2D or sections of nature while ours was 3d and surprising. Not only that but our piece generally has amazing form and shape and no matter how much blank space it has it still has great depth, length and width. It also absolutely amazing me how when looking at different angles it can be seen in differently which absolutely transforms the overall aesthetic to be very pleasant and astonishing.
And when it comes to content it can be interpreted all different ways. However my group interpreted the piece to be a student’s journey throughout college. For instance, you start from the very beginning when you are a freshman and as you go through the year it’s a whole new world of change and pleasant experiences. Then it continues to sophomore and junior year which are less memorable therefore explains why the piece goes downward. From then on it gets to senior year so the piece skyrockets back up to display the excitement about graduation and being done.
Nevertheless although our piece is unique I don’t believe it was art before we taped a frame around it. I believe this because the piece’s actual practicality is used to place and chain bikes so they don’t get stolen. It’s not really meant for anything other than to meet its purpose. And I believe the same when the tape is gone…it will just turn back into a plain old bike rack.
In my opinion art doesn’t have to reside in the body of the object but I draw the line when people just take something random and tape it off. In my opinion that is lazy and uncreative. There was no work done, no uniqueness or creativity, and no actual personal meaning because it’s not even your own handmade piece.
Not only that but I do believe there are exceptions when it comes to art being something other than an object handmade or not. One of these exceptions is photography. For instance, photographers take pictures of beautiful landscapes or sunsets or even animals. Point is those photos taken are considered art in my eyes.
In conclusion I am open to the idea of art residing to the experience of the viewer in addition to the piece but when it goes out of proportion and leans more towards the experience there’s not really much art considered to me. For instance, when someone points to a random object and compares it to their life I don’t consider that art but when someone looks at a piece with movement and depth as they follow leading lines or even the strokes throughout the piece that is what I consider an experience.
Art 110 Blog 