Cerritos : Art 100 TTH : Lectures

Review

Self and Society

Humans have done terrible things to each other and specific instances of injustice have spurred many artists to protest through their artwork. Only for the last two hundred years or so has art been used to expose the horrors of war. As art became viewed as the individual expression of the artist rather than the patron (client), artwork was produced that expressed the anger and disbelief felt by artists in the face of terrible events. In addition, war is not the only injustice in the world. Some artists use their work to fight for the rights of those who are economically and politically oppressed.

Social Protest

Humans have done terrible things to each other and specific instances of injustice have spurred many artists to protest through their artwork. Only for the last two hundred years or so has art been used to expose the horrors of war. As art became viewed as the individual expression of the artist rather than the patron (clie nt), artwork was produced that expressed the anger and disbelief felt by artists in the face of terrible events. In addition, war is not the only injustice in the world. Some artists use their work to fight for the rights of those who are economically and politically oppressed.

Through time, art has been used in the service of rulers and/or governments. Art can glorify, empower, popularize, and propogandize the state. Almost always meant to overwhelm and dominate, art is a very powerful tool in the hand of those who wish to gain and/or maintain power.

Power Politics and the State

Funerary art exists to honor the dead. Within this wider idea of death and honor, however, different cultures have created functionally different commemorative art. Some cultures provide for lavish afterlives, others create monuments to dead leaders, and still others create simple sites for friends and family to continue a relationship with the deceased.

Mortality and Immortality

Setting aside certain places for religious worship and sacred rituals has always been an important cultural practice. Whether gradiose or simplistically constructed, these spaces are almost always designed to reveal complex spiritual ideas and to enhance an individual's expericence beyond that of the mundane.

Religion : Places of Worship

Unlike food, reproduction, and shelter, religion does not serve an immediate physical need. However, throughout time and place, humans have strived to visualize the universal forces of life and death that are ultimately out of their control. Images of Gods and Goddesses have taken on many divergent visual manifestations. In some religions, divine beings are presented with human traits, in others they are anthropormophic translations of natural forces, and in yet others, the imaging of spiritual beings is strictly forbidden.

Religion : Gods and Goddesses

Audio recordings of Art 100 Lectures from Cerritos College

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Cerritos : Art 100 TTH : Lectures

hubhopper