Had a rather fruitful discussion today, one that went from Han Sai Por's works to complaining about the education system. Long story, I know, but it went something like this:
While discussing her opinions on art, the class commented that she was contradicting herself; I know it sounds cynical but it seemed like she was "giving the politically correct answer" (something along those lines). How she was saying at first that she does not impose her ideas on the materials and environments she uses and the target audience she tries to reach out to (which is usually the public); in fact she says she creates sculptures that "the public wants"; yet she also mentioned something about "staying true to" herself. And then, speaking of "politically correct" answers, we started talking about graded assignments, some of which required our "opinions" but then "told us which opinions were right, or as they put it - to get a safer grade". (like the Integrated Humanities Reflection we did on our project work last year which required 6 pages of reflections from us then gave us a whole list of guidelines telling us what to write. They wanted an 'academic essay' on our experiences, not a personal narrative - I only made it to 4 pages. On the topic of 私函 or functional letter writing in Chinese - a constant exercise we've been doing for Higher Chinese, involving a rigid structure and format not just in writing recipients' and senders' addresses but also in the content of the letter - someone even commented that we sure as heck don't need no dang format to write to our friends!) And we all started joking about the irony.
Perhaps as artists we prefer free expression, but then again, the education system in its current state doesn't allow for that. Looking at Sticker Lady and our art museums, maybe the country in its current state was not meant for artistic expression.
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
Take note!
This is an art blog, so according to the rubrics there should be academic content here as well as various artworks I've done, or seen and thought interesting enough to put here.
Just a note, most of the artwork I've done that is good enough to be seen is fan art, so I apologize beforehand if it may not seem relevant. I'll try my best not to turn it into a DeviantArt page though.
Please, please leave comments on posts you've looked through! I work better with constructive feedback!
Please, please leave comments on posts you've looked through! I work better with constructive feedback!
3 April 2013
Yeah, sorry for not posting recently, I was bogged down with stuff.
Today's AEP lesson was a theory lesson, where this quote by Han Sai Por was raised, and there was this line in the quote, "If the artist says, this is art, then it is art, provided only that the artist can demonstrate a valuable idea or concept." I find that I can connect with this line the most, especially after learning about Dadaism. This art movement really made me question the definition of art. It made no sense and almost seemed like a joke to me, until I found out its background story. That cleared up the doubt. That art movement was created around the World War I era, and the artists wanted to mock society for losing its fundamental values and letting themselves get dragged into conflict, which reflects the nonsensical, random qualities about the movement
The ensuing discussion made me realize that novelty, or ingenuity is also a key part to artworks, like if artists were breaking new ground. If someone else tried to copy it it would not be as original.
Learning from various art movements made me learn that art does not necessarily have to be aesthetically pleasing and always follows the artist's intention (which may vary depending on if it's commissioned, of course).
There's this satirical cartoon, The Pinky Show, where on one episode the cartoon characters talked about museums, who decides what goes in museums, why they think it's important and so on. It had a sarcastic tone, suggesting that museums are formal, academic and like some sort of temple where people "worship" artworks.
Today's AEP lesson was a theory lesson, where this quote by Han Sai Por was raised, and there was this line in the quote, "If the artist says, this is art, then it is art, provided only that the artist can demonstrate a valuable idea or concept." I find that I can connect with this line the most, especially after learning about Dadaism. This art movement really made me question the definition of art. It made no sense and almost seemed like a joke to me, until I found out its background story. That cleared up the doubt. That art movement was created around the World War I era, and the artists wanted to mock society for losing its fundamental values and letting themselves get dragged into conflict, which reflects the nonsensical, random qualities about the movement
The ensuing discussion made me realize that novelty, or ingenuity is also a key part to artworks, like if artists were breaking new ground. If someone else tried to copy it it would not be as original.
Learning from various art movements made me learn that art does not necessarily have to be aesthetically pleasing and always follows the artist's intention (which may vary depending on if it's commissioned, of course).
There's this satirical cartoon, The Pinky Show, where on one episode the cartoon characters talked about museums, who decides what goes in museums, why they think it's important and so on. It had a sarcastic tone, suggesting that museums are formal, academic and like some sort of temple where people "worship" artworks.
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