Wednesday, January 18, 2017

"The Whole Ball of Wax" Reflection

"Art is a cat." A combination of very simple words to create a quite complex phrase. Still not entirely coherent in what the phrase means, I can piece together the idea that art is not as clear and communicative in it's pieces as a dog's behavior.

Always hearing about the complexity of art growing up, I never took the time myself to look into it. I have had history teachers pull up art pieces and ask the message behind it and by the end of the discussion they would always tell all of the students that we were wrong and would then tell us the "correct" meaning of the art piece. But is there one mean behind a single art piece? After reading Jerry Saltz, "The Whole Ball of Wax" I have now become skeptical of the previous understandings that I have come to know. "Art is often political when it doesn't seem political and not political when that's all it seems to be." So were the pieces that I was taught to be political actually political, or were they composed of an entirely different meaning? A question that I may never know the answer to, I look forward to further learning in this class and gaining a better understanding of the changed that is inspired through art.

4 comments:

  1. I like the way that you started your reflection with a quote from Saltz. The phrase was only 3 words, however, it left me thinking about it for a little while. I wonder what specific behaviors of a cat that Saltz would compare art to. What would he compare a dog to? I think that you did an excellent job of responding to the quote and am curious to hear your perspective to the questions I was left thinking about.

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  2. I agree that the quote "art is a cat" is difficult to fully interpret, but I really liked your take on it. In addition, your question about the true intentions of political pieces made me start thinking about and questioning past pieces of art I've seen deemed "political pieces".

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  3. I appreciate you honestly saying you never took the time to really appreciate art growing up. I can relate to this and see it more as an opportunity to grow than a hinderance.

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  4. I really like that you questioned the way you were taught about art while growing up. I believe that there is definitely more than one meaning behind every piece of art and i am excited to learn more this semester as well!

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