A. INSTRUCTION: Answer the following questions as precisely yet as thoroughly as possible.

1. What are the hurdles of accessing art in terms of its subject and content?

As previously discussed, art is subjective. It does not have a single standing view
compared to other things. One cannot explain art in just a single or a straightforward
manner as it contains an overlapping meaning with each and every element included
in it. One great example of such notion is the Mona Lisa. Even to this day, mysteries
could be inferred to the totality of the piece. Historians, art enthusiasts, or even
common people who share the same interest with the subject often have differing
thoughts with such matter. Moreover, a thing, a painting, and the like are considered
art because of the broad spectrum for which it is in. Art doesn’t have to be aligned
with the conventional approaches. It doesn’t have to be comprehensible to the
majority. The artist can bend, customize, and create out of the box ideas for his art so
long as he achieves his desired results.

2. Which do you prefer as an artwork, with subject or no subject? Explain your answer.
As a person who can grasp so little of these artistic perceptions, I prefer artworks with
subject. Though non-representational art are often the ones who can grasp feelings
and emotions better, representational art allows me to see things in the perspective
of other people. It is like a window of understanding between me and others, as
through this, I can have an idea whether we can see the same things differently or
similarly. Furthermore, it can also help me further appreciate the work, as I can have
the idea where to put my focus on.

3. Attach an example of an artwork and speculate on the content of the artwork based on
the following:
 Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh

FACTUAL MEANING:

Vincent Van Gogh painted "Starry Night" in 1889 from a room in the mental asylum at Saint-
Remy where was recovering from mental illness and his ear amputation. Van Gogh created the starry
night based from his memory. In the painting, he included a certain village for which he didn’t derived
from observation. However, he detailed the sky from his room in Saint Remy, the place for which he
created the piece. The inspiration for the village section of his painting could’ve been derived from his
memory of a French town or his birthplace in the Netherlands. Not so long after he created the Starry
Night, his mysterious death occurred, seemingly by suicide, in 1890.

CONVENTIONAL MEANING:

Beneath this expressive sky sits a hushed village of humble houses surrounding a church, whose
steeple rises sharply above the undulating blue-black mountains in the background. The piece is framed
by his newly-discovered motifs: at left a cypress towers skywards, at right a group of olive trees cluster
into the cloud, and against the horizon run the undulating waves of the Alpilles. Van Gogh's treatment of
his motifs prompts associations with fire, mist and the sea, and the elemental power of the natural
scene combines with the intangible cosmic drama of the stars.
 SUBJECTIVE MEANING:

Starry Night is an attempt to express a state of shock, and the cypresses, olive trees and
mountains had acted as van Gogh's catalyst.  It offers a rare nighttime glimpse into what the artist saw
while in isolation. More intensely, perhaps, than ever before, Van Gogh was interested in the material
actuality of his motifs as much as in their symbolic dimensions.