Is it Art? - By: David Tatham

To examine the place of art in society, we need to look at what it brings to the world, what it achieves..? A 'set of compromises', that was the view of one artist, and indeed, perhaps they are right.

A rethink into the use of art was necessary after the arrival of the camera. It's main use was as a record to illustrate the way of life, and perhaps in some instances to leave one's mark. However with the coming of photography in the early nineteen hundreds, art moved into a different sphere. necessary to illustrate anger, love, hate, greed , caring, lust and many other emmotions that remain not easily seen. Cartoonists would for example exagurate certain features of a person's personality to make them look funny or scary. It is fascinating to look at old watercolour paintings and watercolours by artists for example John Constable, and imagine the world as it must have been in those times, with the horse and cart trundling along a dusty unmade track on its way home... in a time when tarmac roads did not exist, and the only noise was that of the rumbling of the cart and the singing of the birds. It may portray a physically hard life as a farmer, or an extravagant overindulgent life of an aristocrat, in the most subtle ways.

Modern art tends to place a lot of emphasis at least at present, on an instant 'reaction', a diplay of emmotion 'shock'.. Trying to 'jolt' the viewer into new way of seeing...

Artists such as Damien Hirst are at the forefront of such art. It is undoubtedley marketing at its finest... there are many simply enjoy the work for one of many reasons. His art has achieved huge sums of money; eg. a cow cut in two and preserved in a transparent tank may be thought provoking....

S what is art, and what is its purpose..? Is it to bring joy and happiness to many people or to enlighten them so they perceive the world in a different way to their usual existence. Was ProfessorTimothy Leary one of the great true artists, when he advised the world that a change of perception was necessary in order to see the world in new and fulfilling light. In comparison to some winners of the Turner prize it is indded a debatable subject.

Where is the joining link beween money and art..How can we put a correct figure on a work of art, is it the artist's name on the canvas, the amount of time he spent painting. Certainly some of the great masters, Van Gogh, Lowry lived their lives in relative poverty, and had little material concern.

About the Author

David Tatham owns the website http://www.lowry.co.uk where work by world renowned artists can be viewed and purchsed.

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