Homework from Week 23

Friday, February 28th, 2014

Questions for Discussion from "What is art?" readings

A) Are the arts important? If so, is this despite or because of the problem of finding the standards by which to judge them?

I believe that the arts are an important component in our lives, and the value of arts expand further than the issue on standards of judgement. Art is a form of expression, whether for personal knowledge or shared knowledge. The arts have been a way to share the knowledge (emotions, thoughts and all) for centuries, probably almost since the beginning of times. It doesn't really matter to find universal or "proper" criteria to judge arts. And this is because the purpose of art is not to gain attention, but rather to express and reflect the artist's purpose. This purpose may be to raise awareness, or to unleash secrets or hidden messages, or for his own personal enjoyment, or to give as a gift to a given audience, or who knows what. Point is, I believe that art is important, even though there are no agreed conventions to judge art pieces, because the essence of art is not to be judged by the same standards by all the individuals in an audience. Art is a form of expression, for the artist and for the audience's interpretation. Art is "open-ended" because it is this quality that allows its versatility and accessibility to a variety of people.

B) What place does rationality have in the arts?

Rationality defines the realm of acceptability, or maybe the realm of credibility and pleasantness for artworks as seen by the audience. I don't think rationality has much importance in the arts, because what might seem rational to one may not seem rational to another or the rest. Rationality is another area of knowledge that is much open to personal interpretations. But rationality helps in defining the audience's response to the art piece. If the art piece made sense in the individual's rational, then that individual is more inclined to appreciate that piece. If the artwork did not fit an individual's rational, then that individual is more likely to dislike the piece and discard it as "bad art". Rationality is a contributing factor to people's response to the arts because people tend to appreciate what they can understand and dislike what they cannot decipher.

C) What are the standards for artistic judgement?

I don't believe that there actually are universally set and accepted conventional standards for artistic judgement. I do believe that there are underlying ideas that are shared by the majority of humans, meaning that there are qualities that seem more attractive or pleasant to the human eye. However, I do not believe that they are legitimate, meaning that they are neither strict nor enforced upon anybody. Art often forms part of the shared knowledge, as many artists share their pieces to an audience. Nonetheless, artistic judgement itself is personal knowledge, because the interpretation of the arts is a personal experience. Each individual will judge the piece he or she is viewing according to his or her own values. Although there might be a sphere of acceptable interpretation, I don't believe that anyone can say one's judgement is off or wrong, unless maybe by the artists themselves. But even then, by spreading the pieces for the world and leaving them open for individual views, artists are giving a license to viewers to decide their views on the artworks for themselves. A melody could sound happy and light-hearted to the majority, yet there might be a minority who hears a sorrowful tune. Is either of the interpretation wrong? Not really. We cannot condemn people for individual differences, or emotional state, or memories, or any other factor that contributes to diversity and the uniqueness of all of us.

D) Which people are best qualified to judge the arts? What qualities should they possess?

Any person is qualified to judge the arts. When artists to spread and share their work to an audience, they are granting those individuals with the right to judge and interpret them accordingly, in their own ways. The different values beheld by the people are the qualities that enable them to have different interpretations. Lacking imagination, or emotional responses, or memories, or any area of knowledge might limit or prevent an individual to interpret and judge the artworks. However, this doesn't mean that the individual is less qualified as a viewer of art. Any viewer of art, any person who has the curiosity or desire to view an artwork, is qualified to judge art. Because art is made for the purpose of the intended audience, from children to adults to anyone else and including the artist him/herself.