At Talk About Artists, we'll focus on five points of view.
Moral - Art must be good and do good
If a radical moralist ruled the art world, all art would serve humanity by being a positive influence on those who view it. It would inspire action of the best sort. Humans would always be depicted with dignity. No artwork would inspire a viewer to lascivious or immoral acts or cause desensitization to immoral acts.
Psychological - Art can reveal the artist's emotions
This
approach considers the artist's mood, feelings and emotions as expressed in the artwork. It assumes that artists can
both intentionally and unintentionally express emotions in their work. This approach is one way to
study an artist's life to clarify the artist's motives for
creating art. Much of the terminology and concepts associated with
this approach come from the field of psychoanalysis.
Archetypal - Art tells the oldest stories in the world
Other
terms for this approach include mythological and totemic. It suggests artists perform rituals much like shamans. Seeing universal symbols in art may be related to
our exposure to anthropology in our everyday lives. It may also be
related to the myths we create for ourselves and see expressed in the
work of artists.
Sociological - Art is not created in a vacuum
This
evaluative approach is concerned with the artist's role as a member
of society. It assumes the relationship between the artist and society is important. Do artists make change or reflect
change? History, politics, feminism, race, class -- they all
influence the search for social truth.
Formalistic - Art is all about the object
The
formalistic approach is all about the object the artist made. The
work has its own existence, apart from its creator. It has volume,
texture, line, area, color, movement, and mass that may be described
in detail. Moral meaning and narrative content are not assigned
to it.
