GIAN REXIUS GAMALIEL B.

SIMPLICIANO
BLM1

CRITIQUE PAPER BASED ON VIDEO AND MODULE 1 LECTURE ABOUT WHAT IS ART

1. Synopsis or Summary of what is an art based on the video what is an art and
the lecture and module about understanding arts? (30)

“A thing of beauty is a joy forever.” With these words, John Keats, a

prominent English romantic poet, prefaced one of his major literary works that has
now been associated by many in the depth of appreciation we need to have to all
that surrounds us as embodying beauty. Keats may not be talking particularly
concerning art in his literary piece but it certainly paints rather creatively in a poetic
language that which art is also all about.

Like a poem, art is a distinctively human pursuit and therefore man-made. It

is something that, given our level of intelligence and natural endowment, is unique
to us as human beings. It is at once expressive and communicative and reflects so
much of man’s nature as a thinking being with a sense of self-consciousness and
consciousness of the world he lives in and his interaction with it. Art traces its
genesis from man’s mental capacity through which he creatively gives a sense of
order and reorganizes that which his faculties of sight, touch, hearing, smell and
taste acquire from his environment. Although art is not a reproduction of nature, it
is nonetheless man’s expression of his feeling and understanding of nature and the
beauty that it possesses which he communicates through the medium of art. Art is
as creative as it could get to approximate the divine creation of the natural world.
That is why it is said that art approaches the work of God and serves as a shadow of
divine perfection.

Art cannot be limited by and confined in a box as to make it something

restricted to only a few. On the contrary, it has universality in that it exists in
various cultures. It is not even a recent phenomenon as it has been around since
prehistoric times. Art has been there from the time man learned to visually imprint
in cave walls the animals they hunt up to these contemporary periods.

While there are those who argue that art exists for art’s sake, it must be
understood that art is functional and must be taken for its usefulness as it addresses
needs that are individual (self-expression of one’s viewpoint), social (expression
and influencing of collective social behavior) and physical (comfort, beauty and
practical utility).

2. Personal Integration- apply your metanarrative concepts to your own

personal little narratives or personal experiences and examples related to
your answer in number 1 (30)

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 Seven years before I was born, that is in 1995, there was a science fiction
action-adventure film entitled “Congo” which was based on a 1980 novel with the
same title. In that movie, a primatologist was able to devise a way to have “Amy”, a
mountain gorilla, taught sign language which was in turn translated to a digitized
voice. More than that, however, Amy’s handlers were fascinated as she started to
draw images of jungles and the so-called “Eye of Providence” that would lead to a
place called “Zinj” which was fabled for its diamonds. Watching this movie got me
thinking a bit. Could an animal be that intelligent as to even draw? Of course, I did
some research. While it is true that certain animals like primates, which is the
closest mammalian relative of human beings, have the ability to make use of tools
and have been thought to have a certain level of cognition, it is not of such degree as
to actually allow them to do artwork as modern man does. Indeed, I would say that
art uniquely belongs to the domain of humans given the ability to have depth of
perception and the complex mental processes that go into making sense of and
communicating what is perceived. So “Amy” being able to draw the “Eye of
Providence” is simply fictional at this point and never comes close to the most
rudimentary of cave drawings in Lascaux, France of early Paleolithic man.

The foregoing observation puts art as something that is a purely human

endeavor but at the same time it is not supposed to be elevated to a degree that
somehow makes it the sole affair and interest of a few. There was actually one time
when, while walking along a street, my father and I encountered a man peddling a
bunch of framed paintings. Among those he was carrying were the usual farm and
nature scenery, galloping horses (which I learned would supposedly bring good
luck), koi fish (which was also for good luck according to Chinese Feng Shui), a
multicolored peacock and a swan on a pristine waterway. The man stopped and
motioned if he could offer the paintings perhaps thinking that we were interested.
When asked how much those paintings were, I was surprised that their price did not
even get past 1,000 pesos. “Surely cheap”, I thought to myself. But this got me
thinking as well how come those paintings were priced only that much when
paintings in my father’s office done by artists like Arturo Luz, Jose Joya, Araceli
Limcaco Dans, Jeff Dizon and Manuel Baldemor, to name a few, would cost a few
hundred thousand to over a million? To me, I thought that the paintings being sold
by that man were just as beautiful and expressive, so somehow they should
command a price much improved than what was offered. That could not be
anywhere closer to the truth. In any case, that served as my experience on how
someone with established name and reputation for “quality” in the art circle may
have better chances of raking in higher dividends than the ordinary souls behind
those artworks hawked by that lowly man we bumped into. I would like to think
though that somehow and somewhere, those paintings would still find a home. Art is
not so much for the rich and the cultured to afford but also for those ordinary
people who have a perception of what is around them, to capture its essence and
creatively communicate in the medium of art. I believe that the not-so-well-known
painters of the depicted sceneries in the paintings traded by the man we
encountered on that street have as much appreciation of the real life settings from
which they drew inspiration and though their artwork may not carry the

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 sophistication that other more recognized artists have, still, they remain to be the
art they are intended to be --- to be that adornment perhaps even to modest home.

Finally, art is a pursuit that serves a purpose. Because it is an expression, it

has a purpose both for the artist and the ones to whom the expression is conveyed
and shared. I had an occasion to know that there was actually a painting appearing
on the brown paper of Pan de Manila which I did not pay much attention to
whenever I buy bread. Little did I know that it was actually the painting of an
Antipolo-based artist and my father’s compadre who is Antonio Mahilum, Jr. As I got
curious, my father informed me that Anton, Jr. once told him that he had a
frustration before for not getting accepted in UP College of Fine Arts and he
somehow did a “revenge” of sorts by perfecting his skills and creating a unique style
that was characterized by the use of bold and iridescent colors for his subjects and
themes, most of which reflect the simple and rustic life of Antipolo where he grew
up. But aside from his personal quest to prove that he could be as good as his
renowned father and two other siblings who are well-known painters themselves,
he also brings into society’s consciousness the cultural treasure of Antipolo and
promote its preservation. Besides this thrust, much of Anton, Jr.’s paintings now
adorn the offices of the Philippine Institute of Certified Public Accountants (PICPA)
in Mandaluyong City.

REFERENCES:

 The Literature Network. (n.d.). A Thing of Beauty is a Joy Forever by John Keats.
Http://Www.Online-Literature.Com/Keats/463/. Retrieved March 22, 2022, from
http://www.online-literature.com/keats/463/

 Cromie. (2002). Scientists Think That Animals Think.

Https://News.Harvard.Edu/Gazette/Story/2002/03/Scientists-Think-That-
Animals-Think/. Retrieved March 22, 2022, from
https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2002/03/scientists-think-that-animals-
think/

 Bradshaw Foundation. (n.d.). The Cave Art Paintings of the Lascaux Cave.
Https://Www.Bradshawfoundation.Com/Lascaux/. Retrieved March 22, 2022, from
https://www.bradshawfoundation.com/lascaux/

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