metamorphosis. art. beliefs. visual concepts. they all communicate.

Indeed it is true that the ways and study of communication in terms of Rhetoric has gone through changes in time. It is amazing how aspects of society can and will change so significantly over the course of time.

However, communication does not only exist through speech and parchment! Communicators also exists in the form of song, dance and notably ..

ART

When communicating, delivery and medium alters, depending on the situation, time and place. They change drastically, in order to best get the message across. With art, the artist is the communicator, his canvas the medium. With his tools, paintbrushes, paints etc. he creates his opinion visually for anyone willing to see, but more than that, to perceive, capture and take in.

GROWTH , REFASHIONING, MODIFICATIONS OF ART BETWEEN THE MIDDLE AGES TO THE RENAISSANCE. WHAT ARE THE CHANGES ?

Everything evolves, fashion, food, lifestyle, music, literary text, IDEOLOGIES and the list goes on.

During the middle ages (Medieval period), Religion was prioritized above anything else as a result of the Rise of the Clergy. Because of this powerful social transmute, Art work during this time was influenced and affected tremendously.

Here is a piece done during the middle ages. Like majority of other art work from this period of time, religion plays the role of being the main subject of interest.

This is a famous piece by Michelangelo THE CREATION OF ADAM.

As you can see, arts from these two periods differ severely in several aspects. Difference in composition reflects the differences during these two different periods.

This piece of Mother Mary and Baby Jesus was done during the Middle Ages. Again we see, this piece of work was done around religion as its primary subject.

Medieval art was hierarchic, they portrayed a figures scale of importance by the scale of size in the picture. As you can see on the left, Angels are smaller in size than Mother mary and Baby jesus. Baby Jesus appears much bigger in size than he should, this picture does not represent figures based on the experience of human beings. Scales and proportion were emphasized on importance rather than realistic measurements of people and objects. Baby Jesus here has the face not of a Baby but a Boy or older, another point of anti-realism. Colours used during this time were mostly drab and dull , as they focused not on pure aesthetics but the representation of religion primarily. Another religious symbol, the appearances of Halos, the bigger and brighter the holier.

Looking back to the work done by Michelangelo CREATION OF ADAM, we see the vast differences as compared to the work above. Renaissance artists employed the humanist method in their art creations to improve the representation of man and the world. They focused on realism in their style of art, focusing on how things really look in terms of scales and how a persons surroundings (nature) in a picture were important in both beauty and relationship.

Looking at THE CREATION OF ADAM, faces appear more realistic, linear perspective in painting has been inculcated. As i once heard from a friend, perspective was formalized as an artistic technique during the Renaissance by architects and was later used by artists. Because of this it helped the idea of portraying realism in art alongside the use of studying LIGHT and SHADOWS and as Da Vinci did, HUMAN ANATOMY ( see m.angelo picture above, compare the way the face is drawn to that of the picture above).

Above is a piece using linear perspective. Linear perspective is basically a technique used to draw a railroad in a way that makes it look like it was disappearing into the distance instead of a 2 dimensional drawing of it on a piece of paper. This technique contributed greatly to the depiction of realism at that time.

Through art the artists communicates what is believed or not using spatial depth, scale of human figures, the relationships of figures to one another and to the environments (nature in all sense) in which they are placed, and in the drawing of three-dimensional objects.

Peace

BEVLYCHARLES.

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Published:: January 23, 2009 / 5:57 am

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Vanessa Ang 1.23.09 / 11am

A lot of the communication in art has been focused on the physical aspects of it from paintings. There’s also other aspects such as gender that could be brought up that explains not only the relationships between people but also the misrepresentations that occurred during those periods of time.
Additionally, art can be interpreted in many different ways for different people rather than just one aspect of it.

celine ng 1.23.09 / 11am

Ancient art are so illustrative,they project many aspects in many angles in the eyes of the beholder.Its like the saying: action speaks louder than words,through the beauty of art done with painstaking hours of patience,imagination and so forth.Obviously the vision/the imagination of the artists will be input into the various works of art of all artists.Artists are very creative people,they see many aspects of life through their own visions/imaginations,so much so one can see things very clearly through their works of art.

In modern art,its just straight to the dot,its like what you see is what you get.

Daniela Monasterios Tan 1.23.09 / 12pm

It’s interesting that you brought up how religion was a driving force for art, most of these works were comissioned by churches and rich patrons, it was very elitist and was not for eveyone. It would be interesting to note baroque artists like Caravaggio who tried to add drama to the traditional biblical scenes and were, in turn, criticized for not being ‘accurate’ on their portrayal but it is this period that interests me the most!

Realism itself is a debatable concept, it’s amazing what science and mathematics rought to art, a modern example would be Chuck close whose portraits were more realistic than photographs!This challenges our views of what really, is real, even more so with the Surrealist movement with artist such as Salvador Dali who was a perfect painter but used his realism to create an alternate reality.

I would say I like the democratization of art by pop artists who tried to bring art to everyone not just the elite, art is something that can be very subjective yet it cannot be denied that when a piece of art (like you said, a song, a dance a poem, prose and so on) can reach deep within us and obtain a response, we wouldn’t really be bothered by strict definitions of whether that piece of work constitutes as ‘art’.

Abby 1.23.09 / 12pm

We only have so many words in our dictionary. A word does not exist for everything we feel or want to express.

Art on the other hand is boundless. You can not limit your scope of expression because art doesn’t need words. You can only limit your scope of expression through your own imagination. But, you have to remember words George Bernard Shaw once said. “You see things and you ask, ‘Why?’ But I dream things that never were and I say, ‘Why not?’”

That’s why so many artists take to the canvas. They want to express something that we have not yet invented words to communicate. Taking to the canvas, artists start out blank. They know what is on their minds. It’s getting their thoughts out onto canvas for others to experience that is the ultimate achievement.

Sr 1.23.09 / 1pm

In comparison to the renaissance art, todays art is less appealing to all, and as stated that “With art, the artist is the communicator, his canvas the medium”. This can be justified by comparing the renaissance society whose views where right or wrong to todays world which is filled with opinions and thoughts.
Another difference that can be seen is that before you were seen as a well educated person or from a royal family and that only those SPECIFIC people where allowed to create art in the Renaissance times. In todays society anyone can be an artist, as there as so many genres. One art can seem horrific to one eyes while another sees beauty, but in the end it can still be classified as art because it is an experession of oneself or thought. Also the art during the renaissance period was limited to only using a canvas but as time evolved tha canvas of the artist grew bigger. Anything from a church as used by Micheangelo from a graffiti piece created by Mr. Cartoon. The canvas of the artist was only limited to the artists creativity.
The difference is extreme in that artistic sense of things but the main context of art remains the same. Meaning that the pictures may be different but it portrays the artist’s thoughts and emotions on a canvas.

Hansen Lian 1.23.09 / 1pm

Like spoken language, art tends to be culturally specific. Its contents are deciphered only by a viewer from the same cultural domain. That is to mean a 16th century painting will mean very little to say an Arab or Chinese from that period, but it would represent a multitude of meanings to a european renaissance person.

The biblical pieces of art work you’ve put up for discussion are primarily loaded with symbology (whereas eastern artwork from the same era would primarily be landscape based, although the concept of perspective had not yet been incorporated into eastern styles).

The beauty of art is that it is subject to interpretation. Although there may be a focal point and deliberate symbology in each painting, a viewer is free to lend different weightage and significance to the various elements. Therefore a skilled painter although he has a clear subject matter in which to revolve his painting around, might deliberately include multiple focal points in the painting and also allow for slightly different interpretation by various viewers.

Steph Yong 1.23.09 / 2pm

What is Art?

Art can be anything. Moon the public or streak across a hotel lobby naked. That is Art. Art has no limitations. Everyone has the liberty to make a statement.

What makes Art so amazing is that no one can ever have the exact same perspective or view of the term. Grab a crayon, scribble some junk and listen to how everyone shares their different opinions. Art is limitless, Art is everywhere.

kamaliah 1.23.09 / 4pm

i guess metamorphosis on art with age can also be seen in how artist show their art.in the past, artists uses materials like canvas and clay. now artists are exposed to different forms of medium to display their arts. example would be using the body as a canvas sheet to form tattoos.

Also, i do agree with sr that the concept of art is still the same. not much evolution. its still about peoplee expressing themselves and sharing their opinions and thoughts through painting, dance, music, poetry

DJOJONEGORO 1.23.09 / 4pm

Having attended the communication design course in Lasalle, I find this post interesting as it’s similar to what i’ve studied. Putting my own 2 cents worth, I think communication through the use of graphics and typography has been around for ages and is important especially now in today’s world. Today, the youth has been bombarded with radical graphics and typography and as such, is more accustomed to such things as a means of communication. How do you think communication in terms of design will evolve through time? Or do you think it will continue on the same pathway as it is now?

Les. 1.23.09 / 5pm

I think you brought up a pretty interesting point about how art is ‘evolving’. I feel that art is devolving, actually. Why so? The reason is simple. Artists of today have it so much easier than the artists of old. Much more advanced technology is on their side. Though the time taken to work out a piece of art has been reduced from weeks ofpainstaking work to a matter of hours or even minutes, I feel that the original meaning of art as a means of communication has been somewhat lost in cyberspace.

Still, we must be thankful for technology, because it allows us to communicate, almost instantaneously.

Dex 1.25.09 / 3am

Technology is so advanced these days that a new form of digital art has evolved. However, let’s not forget the roots and appreciate the beauty of using a simple pencil, brush, canvas or even paint. As it was where true art really grew from.

Dan 1.25.09 / 6am

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder its said. This rings particulary true with art. Not only is art open to numerous interpretations through the viewers understanding of the image/writing/sculpting etc, but in addition to this an artist can convey multiple messages through one piece of work. As mentioned in the comments above harnessing technology to help spread the artists message in other ways can be a powerful tool for an artist.

Amartya 1.26.09 / 7am

Art has certainly been a very useful way to communicate and artists have certainly exploited this medium of communication to spread their message. The ancient egyptians used hieroglyphs on tombs to illustrate life after death. The clergy patronized a variety of artists to use art as a way to glorify the church. Art today is a lot more individualistic we have finally come to a time where art is everywhere and the artist is finally free, The true renaissance has finally arrived. Rejoice.

farhan 1.27.09 / 9am

I’d like to be honest, i dont know the difference between Dali and Warhol.. Enlighten me sometime?

I believe that art is a more profound form of communication as the artist’s expression of it in whatever medium is subjected to various interpretation. Some might be able to discern Mona Lisa’s smile from various angles while some might just see a long haired chick posing behind a fancy background.

Jaesen Leo 1.28.09 / 5am

I’d like to think of art as a form of linear communication with ample noise embedded to intentionally conceal the message. Now this noise can be anything from distortions to proportions as you have mentioned, so as to convey additional messages along with the subject of the piece of art.
How the admirer ‘decodes’ a work of art depends very much on himself. He may choose to dig deeper into the origins of it – study the history and artist, or he may very well look at it with an unbiased point of view and draw a conclusion based on his own intimate set of perceptions.
Both of which are not incorrect.

chrisj 2.8.09 / 4pm

on the subject of art as communication, how do you feel about or urban environment around us, i mean to a certain extent there is art and design that is put into all the viral advertising around us, do you think this visual bombardment changes our perception and creative vision since were constantly looking at all these different images we see on tv and on adds?

take into consideration the amount of times you have to look at fiona xies face on a poster or vivian lais face on a bus stop. frankly i just want to whitewash all the clear channel adds sometimes and then choke vivian lai with my dick (figuratively). so take into the consideration on how many ADDS and other redundant bullshit you see during your day and compared to visual pleasing things that you want to see like nature, beautiful art/design, or whatever it maybe.

but yeah essentially i agree with your statement that art is a form of communication in whatever form the artist wants to convey it in whether its a personal, political, religious, or whatever statement.

BEBE

metamorphosis. art. beliefs. visual concepts. they all communicate.

ART

GROWTH , REFASHIONING, MODIFICATIONS OF ART BETWEEN THE MIDDLE AGES TO THE RENAISSANCE. WHAT ARE THE CHANGES ?

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