irnie said:
is anyone else doing any topic related to the general interest area of 'art within society'?? my hypothesis is along the lines of "public art does not refelct the values of society".
any ideas on how to approach the writing of it without making it an art assessment?
and also, any ideas for a crosscultural aspect apart from time??
any help would be greatly appreciated!!
I think your hypothesis is quite right, art doesn't tend to reflect the values of society, i do art so i have been able to generate my own opinion on these issues. Art is generally about creating new art styles and if you look at conventional art you'll see art that is more "conservative" in other words usually just a picture of a landscape or a person. Conventional art is for the older members of society and thus appeal more to them, then you've got your contemporary art. A great example to use would be the "blue poles" artwork by Jackson Pollock, it relates to Australia because it was bought by the Prime Minister of the time for millions of dollars and it was described as a painting that was just "paint splattered on a canvas in a drunken rage". There was really no dominant message behind this painting but people just didn't like it, that is OLDER people didn't like it because they were socialised in their time to see art in a certain way, just a landscape or a person - just like a picture that had been taken and painted. But the younger audience seemed to like it, saying it had depth and interest to them because face it - we've become more accepting in society ESPECIALLY in art.
Age could be your cross cultural perspective because like i said older generations were socialised differently to the younger generations and especially to us. I sincerely recommend you visit an art gallery - not only to look at the paintings and artworks but to look at the PEOPLE who attend them. You'll find that most of the kids you see are children that were dragged there by their parents, either because their parents were into art or because they couldn't find someone to mind them. You could set about interviewing these people to ask their opinion of what art is and what they think of your hypothesis.
Back to that - i think your pip will be really good because you can explore the history of art as a whole (you won't sound like an art essay trust me) and applying it to society and culture. The two could work really well together. Another thing you should look at is contemporary art (like jackson pollock) because it's this type of art that generally challenges the stereotype of WHAT IS ART? - which is something you'll evidently explore in your PIP due to the fact that you'll have to define what ART and PUBLIC ART is to explain WHY it doesn't reflect the values of society.
Speak to the art teachers in your school about contemporary art and they will be able to help you (although you probably figured that out without my help
). Art is all about CHALLENGING the views of society so you've got a definete direction because it's really true........or is it? ;-)
GOOD LUCK!!
