Discussion
Hi. I have a paper due tomorrow, and have a severe case of writer's block. 
It's about the Arts:
What purposes do the fine arts serve?
Where do you think the arts MUST exist, and justifuy the need to support them [with govt grants etc].
I'll be eternally grateful to anyone who chips in!!
It's about the Arts:
What purposes do the fine arts serve?
Where do you think the arts MUST exist, and justifuy the need to support them [with govt grants etc].
I'll be eternally grateful to anyone who chips in!!
quote:
Where do you think the arts MUST exist, and justifuy the need to support them [with govt grants etc].
The arts must exist to give people like you something to do, give the government something to spend money on and reduce unemployment figures at the same time.
I've decided my original response was a bit cruel...so here's something a little more deep:
without art (thinking esp of philosophy) you cannot have the cars we love to drive.
The reason is simple - without the philosophy you cannot have science (throughout history, most of the great scientists and mathematicians were philosophers). Without science you cannot have engineering. Afterall, engineering is only applied science.
As a more specific example of the arts influencing reality, the design of the Jag R-Type concept car was based in part on Star Wars (i think it was something to do with the headlamps and X-Wing fighters). Can't see it myself!!
>> Edited by mtmrop on Wednesday 10th April 10:54
The fine arts are man's opportunity to push back the boundaries of communication. A flourish in magenta can inform, intrigue, infuriate. New combinations of letters, of words allow an individual, an audience to dare to dream, to think and live in new and exciting ways...
Am i too late?
Am i too late?
When I was at art college a lecturer told me that the fine art department existed to "keep people out of mental hospitals". 
My local Council keeps sending me through Arts rubbish - exhibitions of assorted timewasters who probably see 'art' as an excuse not to get a proper job etc. They can't paint and they can't sculpt - merely parasites that we all end up paying for through 'grants' and higher taxes. It's a self-justification exercise by the non-accountable Council who'd be better spending the money on roads. I even got a phone call from some 'consultants' (paid for by the Council, ie by ME) asking me what I thought about training facilities for the arts and were there enough. My reply? If any of the 'artists' were good enough they wouldn't need the taxpayer to help them paint. Aargh!
Fine arts represent experession of creastivity above and beyond functionality. Although that may render them superflous, forward movement of civilisation is only possible through original thought, and art is the sharp end of the expression of ideas, and individual interpretation of needs and desires. Necessity may be the mother of invention, but originality of abstract thought is the father, and finds it's best use in the production of fine art. Art can also act as a catalyst for further change and invention. Teach someone the principles of sculpture for example,(basically 3D-modelling), and they may well become a brilliant engineer etc. etc.
quote:
Fine arts represent experession of creastivity above and beyond functionality. Although that may render them superflous, forward movement of civilisation is only possible through original thought, and art is the sharp end of the expression of ideas, and individual interpretation of needs and desires. Necessity may be the mother of invention, but originality of abstract thought is the father, and finds it's best use in the production of fine art. Art can also act as a catalyst for further change and invention. Teach someone the principles of sculpture for example,(basically 3D-modelling), and they may well become a brilliant engineer etc. etc.
Hmmmm... I'm not so sure. I believe a great deal of art these days is self-indulgent rubbish. It's all very well saying this or that piece of art is an expression of this or that sentiment, but if you need to be told wha tit's about then as far as I'm concerned it's failed.
Also,I suspect very few artists ever become successful engineers, wheras many engineers create works of art purely as a by-product of building something else. That's not to say there isn't a role for designers, just that the disciplines are different and require a different type of thinking.
Am I right in thinking that the Griff was designed without the help of "designers"? I may be wrong but I'm sure I read that back when it was first launched.
Even in a capitalist democracy there has to be a place for beauty for beauty's sake. Where there is no commercial benefit, the people must provide the funding and the showcases (galleries, museums etc.) for this creativity to be seen by the mass of the population.
"What is 'Art'?" is another kettle of fish (a fine exhibit at the Saatchi, incidentally). But the simplest definition of art is that it is something produced on purpose by someone who wants it to be art. Whether it is perceived as such by either the artist's peers, or critics, or the people who view it is almost an irrelevance, as the fact that it exists at all is reason enough for the artist to feel complete in his or her mission.
By this logic, one may still perceive some automotive design as art (although there is a world of difference between design and art) but only when the creator of the car or any piece of equipment attached to it perceives it as such.
"What is 'Art'?" is another kettle of fish (a fine exhibit at the Saatchi, incidentally). But the simplest definition of art is that it is something produced on purpose by someone who wants it to be art. Whether it is perceived as such by either the artist's peers, or critics, or the people who view it is almost an irrelevance, as the fact that it exists at all is reason enough for the artist to feel complete in his or her mission.
By this logic, one may still perceive some automotive design as art (although there is a world of difference between design and art) but only when the creator of the car or any piece of equipment attached to it perceives it as such.
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