I define art as a piece of human expression, especially in the form of an aesthetic object, such as a painting. My memorable experience with art took place in eighth grade art class when a portion of the class was instructed to create a clay sculpture. What did I end up constructing? It looked like a white elephant, but it really was an abstract object with a sturdy foundation and numerous tentacles, nooks, crannies and curves, about the size of a large grapefruit. In the end, my teacher suggested I paint my sculpture white. The pure white color was perfect because it did not tarnish the strange beauty of my creation. It only enhanced it. I spent a few days molding my clay and maybe another day painting it. I received high praise, but then I threw my masterpiece into the garbage can on my way out of class. I do not know why I did that, but I will always remember this piece as something great created with my own two hands. I remember trying to express every one of my emotions as I sat at my seat molding: emotions possibly including boredom, awkwardness, pride (considering I was one of few in the class selected to actually create a sculpture) and confusion (I had no idea what I was making). The piece certainly turned out to evoke many of these feelings and it had a certain sense of balanced stability, though completely abstract and random. Going into the project I had no intentions. I only attempted to express the ineffable and this eventually resulted in successful art.
Although I had this one successful experience with art, art is as foreign to me as it is to the extraterrestrial described in part one of de Duve's excerpt from "Art was a proper name". As the alien attempts to define art, he collects information and contemplates conflicting theories, but I think the alien does realize that the skill of art is something that all humans are born with. The alien realizes that anyone, including me, can experience art. Then, in part two, de Duve places the reader into the position of a historian to demonstrate the importance of art in humanity's history. Finally, de Duve describes art as it appeals to a regular citizen as something that is supposed to create debate and provoke feelings. Throughout these point of views, de Duve regularly uses Duchamp's Fountain as an example. Can an ordinary object be art? At what point did art become an attraction for common people? Does Duchamp's Fountain disgust or awe you? The definition of art is debatable, but from my own experiences and from de Duve's essay I define art simply as how it is defined above, a piece of human expression that anyone can create.
1 comment:
You gathered the substance of de Duve's essay, but it's always better to quote directly from the source to prove your point. Also, I still wonder how de Duve's ideas relate to your own ideas. You said you agree, but also important is to explain why and give some evidence to that claim.
The author never really speaks about the need to be an artist in order to understand art. In fact, he seems to avoid artists altogether in his definition. He focuses more on all the people on the outside of the process, the people who are critics, audience members, everyday viewers. Would YOU argue that the only people who can know what art is are the people who have tried their hand at making art? This might be an interesting way to respond the de Duve, to cover all the ways of knowing art first-hand, all the ways that he seems to be avoiding.
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