Listen to the questions about art and think of the answers. Are you an expert in art?

What is Art?

What are the forms of art? When you think of art, what do you think of? Paintings, statues? What else?

Is there a size limit to art? What’s the largest piece of art you can imagine? How small is the smallest?

Is art defined by its materials? We’re all used to thinking of paintings as art. Or bronze sculptures. But art can be made from all kinds of materials. Try to think of some. Various kinds of paint and metal, wood, plastics... it can even be an old shoe or a newspaper. What about putting different materials together?

Does art have to be understandable? Is it necessary for it to actually look like something, such as a woman, or a vase of flowers? Does art have to be realistic? Is it better if it is realistic?

What about abstract art? Do you know what that means? What is abstract art about? Can art describe feelings?

Is all art good art? Who decides, and how is it decided?

Does art have to be beautiful? What about a piece that looks truly ugly to you? Is it still art?

Sometimes the artist is trying to shock the viewer, or to make you feel uncomfortable. Why would an artist want to do that? Perhaps to make people see things in a new way?

Does art have to “say” something? Communicate some feeling, idea, a record of fact, another way of looking at something? Just try to think of an example of art that does not communicate anything... can you?

Express your opinion on the forum. Click the link or the last tab here above "10-48 6-форум".

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Listen to a radio interview with Shelley Esaak, a portrait artist, graphic designer, writer and educator. What is art according to Shelley Esaak, Leo Tolstoy, Frank Zappa, art researchers or people in the street?

 

Подведите мышь к пунктирным линиям под предложениями при затруднениях с их переводами.

Interviewer: Our world has become a very visual one – we have art all around us.  Understanding art is understanding our world!  A good first step is to try to understand what we mean by art.  Let’s ask Shelley Esaak, a portrait artist, graphic designer, writer and educator. Hi, Shelley, could you clarify this question?

Shelley Esaak:  I’d be delighted to. First of all, the arts are a great subdivision of culture. It is a broader term than art, which usually means only the visual arts. The arts include visual arts, literary arts and the performing arts, like music, theatre, and film, among others.   If you ask people in the street what art is, paintings and statues are common answers.   But actually that’s a bit more than that.  The types of visual art include architecture, animation, collage, comics, design, drawing, graffiti, illustration, installation art, photography, sculpture ...

I: All right. But how do you know it’s art that you are looking at?

ShE: The first time that the question of what art is came up was in the 19th century in an essay by Leo Tolstoy.  In his work he argues against numerous theories which define art in terms of the good, truth, and especially beauty.  In Tolstoy’s opinion, art at the time was much more than that.  According to him, art must create an emotional link between artist and audience, one that “infects” the viewer.  The idea that art is actually about communicating the feelings of the artists is a romantic one which is widely popular among the researchers.  Or as Frank Zappa once said “Art is making something out of nothing and selling it.”

I: Ha-ha-ha. For all that, how would you personally answer this question today?

ShE: I could tell you that art plays a large part in making our lives infinitely rich. Imagine, just for a minute, a world without art!  (You may think “So what?” but please consider the effect that lack of graphics would have on your favourite video game.)  Art stimulates different parts of our brains to make us laugh or cry, calm down or start shouting.   For some people, art is the entire reason they get out of bed in the morning.    You could say “Art is something that makes us more thoughtful and well-balanced humans.”  On the other hand, art is such a large part of our everyday lives that we may hardly even stop to think about it.  Look at the desk or table where you are, right this minute.  Someone designed that.  It is art.  Your shoes are art.  Your coffee cup is art.  All functional design, well done, is art. So, you could say “Art is something that is both functional and (hopefully) beautiful.”  Art is form and content.  Form means: The elements of art, the principles of design and the actual, physical materials that the artist has used. Form, in this context, is fairly easily described – no matter which piece of art we are studying.   Content, now, gets a little more tricky.  Content is idea-based and means:   What the artist meant to say, what the artist actually did say and how we react, as individuals, to the authors messages.