Art Methods and Practice

Artists create

Artists are creative

Artists (may or may not) create things

Things have meaning

Artists create meaning

Our understanding of things changes the world

Artists attempt to influence they way things mean

Artists attempt to influence the world

Art is not “in” an object or connected to any specific materials or processes

Art poses questions rather then offering answers

Art is open ended

Because art is open ended, different viewers will get different things out of it. Because art poses questions, better knowledge allows the viewer to get more out of an artwork.

The more we know, the better we understand

MEANING

mean·ing v.

To convey or indicate as having a purpose or intention

What does this image mean?

Are meanings always the same?

Human Pyramid?

Meaning is not a matter of a dictionary definitionNor is it fixed or stable

Meaning is not a matter of a dictionary definitionNor is it fixed or stable

Meaning is not an essence or attribute of objects or symbols

Meaning is not an essence or attribute of objects or symbols

Meaning is not an essence or attribute of objects or symbols

Meaning is not an essence or attribute of objects or symbols

Shapes, objects, and places don’t mean…

Only People Do

The most effective visual artworks attempt to strike a balance between providing enough information so

that the intended meaning can occur, but not providing so much information that the viewer is left with nothing to do other then bear passive witness.

The circuit of meaning needs to be complete, but never closed, so that the viewer’s participation can

serve as the final, electrifying link.

Damien Hirst

The impossibility of death in the mind of someone living.

David Salle

Meanings themselves can be:

• Literal – taken at face valuea spoon is a spoon – a dog is a dog

• Symbolic – representing something elseIn a poem, a budding flower could mean youth.

• Psychological – intended to influence the mind or emotion remember Damien Hirst’s shark?

• Associative – connected to other thoughts, feelings, ideas, or sensations what do you associate with a pyramid with an eye over it?

Meaning takes into account:

• Vocabulary with which it will be described

• Iconography – symbolic visual systems

• Audience - intended viewers

• Immediacy – think traffic light vs. museum painting

• Stereotypes – preconceptions

• Clichés – an overused expression or predictable treatment of an idea

• Surprise – a shift in stereotype or cliché