March 12, 2009 at 3:04 pm (Art History, rambling)
First off, a wikipedia link, on psychology and art, which gives a rough overview of the topic; which is: that crossroads where art and psych meet; something I’m somewhat interested in.
Artwork, as a creative output of the mind, can be viewed from the psychological perspective as another form of symbolic communication with the world; indeed, in the arts, often times art is viewed as a form of communication and commentary between the artist and the world.
–and I wish I hadn’t missed the chance to enter this competition.
Added a ton of psych/art/bio books to my amazon wish list about not only what we see but also how we see it and our symbolic makeup.
Symbols are fluid things and they change with time and culture; as we age and as our society does, symbols change. Some go in style, some fall out of style, and part of making effective art -or design- work includes knowing what you’re saying with those symbols and how they are likely to be read by the public.
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December 5, 2008 at 11:56 am (Art, Art History, Other Sites, Research)
La Specola is a museum in italy that houses detailed anatomical wax models. The models were used in medical instruction in a time when most schools could only afford 1 cadaver/year, and were also there to show the triumvir of reason over superstition, bla bla bla. In short: It has a room full of wax replicas of dead people, that are just really creepy, and awesome. So for your edification I present: Really Neat Dead Things 
FlickrSets Here and Here There’s also a video tour here.
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October 14, 2008 at 11:07 pm (Art History, Other Sites, news)
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Sleepwalkers,
momathe moMA had an exhibit called Sleepwalkers, and on iTUNES U, there’s a lot of different things, including a serries on the exhibition, of the artists and people involved talking about various things under Conversations with Contemporary Artists/Think Modern.
I found it interesting, because I don’t often get to hear artists speak about their work, and it adds something to the viewing experience to me, and it makes me stop and think about things as different people have a different take on various aspects of art -and the viewing of it. The Sleepwalkers conversation with the artists brings to light not just what is viewed, but also HOW we view artwork, and how space is set up.
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November 20, 2007 at 7:12 pm (Art History, rambling)
Tags: Dada
Dada. I love this ‘art/literature’ movement. Not that I can rightfully call it a movement, as it seems to me more of a creative panic attack in the face of what appeared to be a rather horrific future, and the thread of connection between the groups and members was not one of matching style, but was one of friendship. The people in Berlin, Paris and America knew each other, exchanging letters and occasionally visiting each other. But I will not say it was ever intended to be a movement or something glorified by such a title in the annals of art history. People have been trying to apply meaning to it, to shoe-horn it into a nice pigeonhole, but Dada, by its nature is un-pigeonholable. It wasn’t about doing things in this style or that, about being ‘cool’ or just randomly throwing a fit and calling it art, it was about questioning things and attacking the values of the current- and apparently non-viable (to the eyes of the young dadaists)- society. It was angry teenage and 20-or30-something art made by angry, intelligent young people who were not satisfied with the world they saw around them or the way how people accepted things merely based upon the labels given.
Is something art because I say it is? Because it has been placed in a context we associate art with, such as a gallery? Because it was made by a human? Because it managed to get into some textbook?
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