Graphics Reference
In-Depth Information
He CHOSE it. He took an ordinary article of life,
placed it so that its useful significance disappeared
under the new title and point of view - created a
new thought for that object.” Therefore the idea
and selection, not just the creation was important,
and an artifact might become art. Artifact is usually
described as an object produced by human craft (a
tool, a weapon, or an ornament of archaeological
or historical interest).
In his topic titled “Definitions of Art” (1991)
Stephen Davies discussed functional and proce-
dural approaches to art definition - two strate-
gies that might be adopted to define art. For the
functionalist, an artwork performs functions
distinctive to art, usually providing a rewarding
aesthetic experience. For the proceduralist, an
artwork is created in accordance with certain rules
and procedures. Stephen Davies reviewed also
two separate meanings of the word “artifact:” in
its primary sense an artifact is something that is
modified by work, while in an alternative meaning,
an artifact is something which has significance in
a given culture and invites interpretation. Morris
Weitz said in his paper “The Role of Theory in
Aesthetics” that even artifactuality (whether an
object is man-made) is not decisive in defining
art. Thus, Duchamp's “Fountain” may be both an
artwork and an artifact. He presented an opinion
that artists and aestheticians failed to define the
nature of art because there is no essence that
would be common to all artworks and restricted
only to artworks. However, others counter with
that opinion; for example, Raymond Lauzzana and
Denise Penrose (1987; 1992), stated that natural
things are not art because art must be made by
humans. Also, many ask, can a monkey or an
elephant create art?
A status of the work as a work of art depends
on the opinion of the Artworld, the cooperation
and recognition of others. Arthur Danto introduced
the term “Artworld” in 1964 as informal groups of
art-related people. Art facilitates communication.
Artworks can be appreciated in relation to other
artworks, whether they are providing enjoyment,
aesthetic experience, and some social benefits. The
interesting question is, whether artwork regarded
now as art was considered art at the time it was
made, and would it be art in the future.
At the present times, rules, formulas, and skills
are valued, but also imagination and creativity.
Also, novelty is important, even if existing only
in part: “on an old tree, in an old way, new leaves
are growing every spring,” and “every car is new
even if all its parts do not differ from other cars”
(Tatarkiewicz, 1976, p. 302). Many authors and
critics question whether or not art can be defined
in terms of aesthetic and philosophic frameworks.
Texts written by Matisse, Van Gogh, Klee, Tolstoy,
Malraux, Albers, and so many others contain at-
tempts to find some perceptible or imperceptible
property that would be intrinsic to art works.
Digital art, which could not be created in previ-
ous epochs, differ from traditional art because of
its interactivity, programmability of images, and
capacity for modeling real objects due to computer
functions. Sometimes it causes that the straight-
from-the-monitor electronically generated art,
which does not have physical material but only a
file of numbers that controls the image, has poor
recognition by the art world. There is no original
in the digital world; there are equally valued cop-
ies. The edition of a digital artwork can be limited
and numbered by the artist in order to raise the
price of a printout.
See Table 1 for Your Visual Response.
BASIC ART CONCEPTS
Many concepts about art may stem from a gener-
ally accepted opinion that every artwork, as well
as every project should fulfill general principles
related to its design, editing, and analysis of
presentation. For example, a good graphic proj-
ect should enhance complexity, dimensionality,
density, and beauty of communication (Tufte,
1983; 1992). We will talk about these qualities,
especially beauty and aesthetics of every display.
