WHY IS THAT ART?

Art is something I have always loved.  I feel that it allows you to be you, to express yourself in anyway that you want to. What I don’t understand is when people tell you that your art is wrong.  How can me expressing myself be wrong? It’s like if they don’t like it or they don’t understand it, or can’t categorize it then it must be wrong. Within the various categories or theories in art some of the artists blur the lines and their work may overlap into certain categories. I’d like to take a moment to talk about four theories in art, comparing them to each other.

Realism

According to Terry Barrett’s book, “Why is That Art?”, he gives us a simple definition for Realism stating: “A theory of Realism would have one believe that a work of visual art should look like what it is meant to show. That quality of depiction which allows the viewer to quickly and easily to recognize what it is a picture of…” Jeff

Michael Jackson and Bubbles, 1988

Koons’ 1988 porcelain sculpture entitled, “Michael Jackson and Bubbles” is an example of Realism. Kitsch falls under Realism, although it is “thought to have ‘trashiness,’.” Along with Koons other Realism artists are Andres Serrano, Alexis Rockman and Don Foley.

Expressionism

Expressionism began in the middle of the 19th century, and is a theory that wants to illicit emotions.”Expressionist theory appeals to common sense. It draws upon experiences of artists who have strong feelings and different ways of looking at the world who attempt to express them by means of their chosen medium.” Therefore, the purpose of Expressionism art is to evoke the same emotions that the artist feels about her/his work in their audience. Louise Bourgeois, Joan Mitchell and Kiki Smith are all artists that would be “categorized” under Expressionism.

Formalism

Most people who know anything about art has heard the saying, “Art for the sake of art”. This is the basic mantra of Formalism; “that aesthetic values can stand alone and that judgments of art can be detached from other considerations such as ethical or social ones.” Formalists pay “exclusive attention to arrangements of visual elements such as line, shape, color and so forth, regardless of their expressive content. Various Formalist artists include Wassily Kandinsky, Clement Greenberg and Agnes Martin.

Postmodernism

According to Barrett, “Postmodernists…think art and aesthetics are too important to be isolated from life”, which is the total opposite of what the Formalists think. Lorna Simpson is a Postmodernist artist who often

Lorna Simpson - Necklines, 1989

times explores the subject of gender and race in her work. She was the first African-American woman to represent the United States at the Venice Biennale in Italy. Other Postmodernist artists include Cindy Sherman and Paul McCarthy.

With all of the various theories of art why can’t we just let it be art? Why are folks so inclined to put labels on things? Let’s let the artists be artists and express themselves in the way that they want to.