ART

FUNCTIONS OF ART

1. PERSONAL

Arts are instrument for the artists’ expression of their feelings and ideas. The arts
also serve as means of expression for us. The therapeutic value of art is one of the
most important purpose for it helps an artist be understood when words are not
enough.

2. SOCIAL
To reinforce and enhance the shared sense of identity of those in family,
community, or civilization, for example, festive occasions, parades, dances,
uniforms, important holidays or events.
3. PHYSICAL
These are tools or objects which function to make our lives physically
comfortable. Functional works of arts are classified as tools or containers.
Important aspects are Forms and functions which generally determines the basic
form of an object and elevating it into a design that can be harmoniously
aesthetically pleasing to the eye and functional or comfortable to use.
4. SPIRITUAL
To express spiritual beliefs about the destiny of life controlled by the force of a
higher power.
5. POLITICAL
To reinforce and enhance a sense of identity and ideological connection to
specific political views, parties and/or people. One cannot conceive of a society
without art, for art is closely related to every aspect of social life. It seeks or tends
to influence the collective behavior of people when created or used in public
situations, commemoration of important personages in society that serves to
record important historical events.

A. ART AS IMITATION (PLATO)

Plato’s theory on art from The Republic claims that art is nothing more
than a copy of a copy of an ideal, thrice removed. Using a couch as an
 example, Plato believed that the true artist was god, who then inspired the
carpenter, who then inspired the painter, “thus we have three forms of
couches and three overseers of their manufacture - the painter, the
carpenter, and god.” He believed that art imitates reality, that it imitates the
objects and events of ordinary life, be it images of nature, or a photograph of
a ballerina. He saw art is nothing more than an imitation of people, places,
and things that already exist.  An art made by Robert Rauschenberg on 1997
called Streaker is an example of this art principle. It is a wooden chair with
acrylic and wood dowel. The chair exists in this world but he altered the
design of the chair but it is still a chair ‘by form’.

B. ART AS REPRESENTATION (ARISTOTLE)

Aristotle (384-322 BC) was more systematic and down to earth. All
the arts have their own techniques and rational principles, and it is through
mastery of these that the artist/craftsman brings his conceptions to life. Yes,
the arts do copy nature, but their representations are fuller and more
meaningful than nature gives us in the raw. That is their strength. We do not
therefore need to insist on some moral purpose for art, which is thus free to
represent all manner of things present, past, imagined or institutionally-
required. Correctness in poetry is not correctness judged on other grounds
like politics or morality. The artist's task is to create some possible world
which the audience will grasp and evaluate much as they do the "real" world
outside. The artwork needs to be internally consistent, and externally
acceptable. Taking Juan Luna’s Spoliarium, Spoliarium symbolizes the
oppression of Filipinos at the hands of Spaniards, which is depicted by the
Romans' treatment of their slaves in the painting.

C. ART AS DISINTERESTED JUDGEMENT (KANT)

 Kant’s definition of fine art is based heavily upon his previous deductions
of how beauty is judged in the natural world. He believes that true judgments
of beauty share four characteristics: they are disinterested, universal,
necessary, and purposive without a purpose. Since Kant draws a distinction
between rational and aesthetic judgments, he argues that aesthetic
judgments are not based on concepts, or things that can be known, but on
intuitions or sensations. Therefore, a true judgment of beauty is disinterested;
it is not based on any known concept, simply a sensation of unconstrained,
completely detached pleasure. Along these same lines, a beautiful object is
purposive, containing the property or quality of purposefulness, without
actually having a concrete purpose. As Freeland summarizes, Kant believes
that “we respond to the object’s rightness of design, which satisfies our
imagination and intellect, even though we are not evaluating the object’s
purpose”. For example, Composition VIII by Wassily Kandinsky in which there
is no concrete form or object that is shown, thus forms, lines, and colors
make the art purposive and made with quality.

D. ART AS COMMUNICATION OF EMOTIONS (TOLSTOY)

Tolstoy defines art as an expression of a feeling or experience in such a
way that the audience to whom the art is directed can share that feeling or
experience. Art does not belong to any particular class of society. To limit the
subject matter of art to the experiences of a particular class of society is to
deny that art can be important for all of society. Tolstoy criticizes the belief
that art is only relevant to a particular class of society, saying that this is a
misconception which can lead to obscurity and decadence in art. French
artist Eugène Delacroix's painting Liberty Leading the People, first exhibited
in 1831, commemorates the Paris uprising of July 27 - 29, 1830, when the
last Bourbon king of France was overthrown and replaced by Louis Philippe,
the Duke of Orleans. The painting depicts a then-current event, but it's also
highly symbolic. A bare-breasted woman who appears as a goddess strides
through death and chaos with an arm raised holding a flag with confidence.
She represents liberty, with figures surrounding her that represents the
common people.