Module No.

I.Title: Assumptions of Art

II. Objectives:

At the end of the lesson, the students should be able to:

1. Characterize the assumptions of arts; and

2. Engage better with personal experiences of and in art.

III. Discussion

A.Assumptions of Art

1. Art is Universal

Literature has provided key works of art. Among the most popular one being taught in school are the
two Greek epics, the Iliad and the Odyssey. The Sanskrit pieces Mahabharata and Ramayana are also
staples in this field. These works purportedly written before the beginning of recorded history, are
believed to be man’s attempt at recording stories and tales that have been passed on, known and sung
throughout the years. Art has always been timeless and universal, spanning generations and continents
through and through.

In every country and in every generation, there is always art. Oftentimes, people feel that what is
considered artistic are only those which have been made long time ago. This is a misconception. Age is
not a factor in determining art. An “…art is not good because it is old, but old because it is good”( Dudley
et. Al., 1960). In the Philippines, the works of Jose Rizal and Francisco Balagtas are not being read
because they are old. Otherwise, works of other Filipinos who have long died would have been required
in junior high school too. The pieces mentioned are read in school because they are good. They are liked
and adored because they meet our needs and desires. Florante at Laura at Laura never fails to teach
high school students the beauty of love, one that is universal and pure. Ibong Adarna, another Filipino
masterpiece, has always captured the imagination of the young with the timeless lessons. When we
recite the Psalms, we feel in communion with King David as we feel one with him in his conversation
with God. When we listen to a Kundiman or perform folk dances, we still enjoy the way our Filipino
ancestors whiled away their time in the past. We do not necessarily like a Kundiman for its original
meaning. We just like it. We enjoy it. Or just as one of the characters in the movie Bar Boys thought,
kundiman makes one concentrate better.

2.Art is not nature

In the Philippines, it is not entirely novel to hear some consumers of local movies remark that these
movies produced locally are unrealistic. They contend that movies work around a certain formula to the
detriment of substance and faithfulness to reality of the movies. These critical minds argue that a good
movie must reflect reality as closely as possible. Is that so?

Paul Cezanne, a French painter, painted a scene from reality entitled Well and Grinding Wheel in the
Forest of the Chateau Noir. The said scene is inspired by a scene in a forest around the Chateau Noir
area near Aix in Cezanne’s native province. Comparing the two, one can see that Cezanne’s landscape is
quite different from the original scene. Cezanne has changed some patterns and details from the way
they were actually in the photograph. What he did is not nature. It is art.

One important characteristic of art that it is not nature. Art is man’s expression of his reception of
nature. Art is man’s way of interpreting nature. Art is not natural. It is made by man, whereas nature is a
given around us. It is in this juncture that they can be considered as opposites. What we find in nature
should not be expected to be present in art too. Movies are not meant to be a direct representation of
reality, be a reinterpretation or distortion of nature.

This distinction assumes that all of us see nature, perceive its elements in myriad, different, yet
ultimately valid ways. One can only imagine a story of the native blind men who one day argue against
each other on what an elephant looks like. Each of the five blind men was holding a different part of the
element. The first was touching the body and thus, thought the elephant was like a wall. Another was
touching the beast’s ear and was convinced that the elephant was like a fan. The rest were touching
other different parts of the elephant and concluded differently based on their perceptions. Art s like
each of these men’s view of the elephant. It is based on an individual’s subjective experience of nature.
It is not meant, after all, to accurately define what the elephant is really like in nature. Just as even
scientists with their elaborate laboratories cannot make nature.

Once this point has been made, a student of humanities can then ask further questions such as: What
reasons might the artists have in creating something? Why did Andres Bonifacio write “Pag-ibig sa
Tinubuang Lupa”? What motivation did Juan Luna have in creating his masterpiece, the Spolarium? In
whatever work of art, why did the artist made it? What is it that he wants to show?

3.Art involves experience

Getting this far without a satisfactory definition of art can be quite weird for some. For most people, art
does not require a full definition. Art is just experience. By experience, we mean the “actual doing of
something’ (Dudley et al., 1960). When one says that he has experience of something, he often means
that he knows what that something is all about. When one claims that he has experienced falling in love,
getting hurt, and bouncing back, he is in effect claims that he knows the sometimes endless cycle of
loving. When one asserts having experienced preparing a particular recipe, he is in fact asserts knowing
how the recipe is made. Knowing a thing is different from hearing from others what the said thing is. A
radio DJ dispensing advice on love when he himself has not experienced it does not really know what he
is talking about. A choreographer who cannot execute a dance step himself is a bogus. Art is always an
experience. Unlike other fields of knowledge like data, art is known by experiencing. A painter cannot
claim to know how to paint if he has not tried holding a brush. A sculptor cannot produce a work of art if
a chisel is foreign to him. Dudley et al. (1960) affirmed that all art depends on experience, and if one is
to know art, he must know it not as a fact or information but as experience”.

A work of art then cannot be abstracted from actual doing. In order to know what an artwork is, we
have to sense it, see or hear it. To fully appreciate our national hero’s monument, one must go to Rizal
part and see the actual sculpture. In order to know Beyonce’s music, one must listen to it to actually
experience them. A famous story about someone who adores Picasso goes something like this: “ Years
ago, Gertrude Stein was asked why she bought the pictures of the then unknown artist Picasso. “ I like to
look at them,” said Miss Stein” (Dudley et al., 1960). At the end of the day, one fully gets acquainted
with art if one immerses himself into it. In the case of Picasso, one only learns about Picasso’s work by
looking at. That is what precisely what Miss Stein did.

In matters of art, the subjects perception is of primacy. One can read hundreds of reviews about a
particular movie, but at the end of the day, until he sees the movie himself, he will be in no position to
actually talk about the movie. He does not know the movie until he experiences it. An important aspect
of experiencing art is its being highly personal, individual, and subjective. In philosophical terms,
perception of art is always a value judgment. It depends on who the perceiver is, his tastes, his biases
and what he has inside him. As the saying goes: “ matters of taste are not matters of dispute”. One
cannot argue with another person’s evaluation of art because one’s experience can never be known by
another.

Finally, one should also underscore that every experience with art is accompanied by some emotion.
One either likes or dislikes, agrees or disagrees that a work of art is beautiful. A stage play or motion
picture is particularly one of those art forms that evoke strong emotions from its audience. With
experience comes emotions and feelings, after all. Feelings and emotions are concrete proofs that the
artwork has been experiences.