Art Theory Research Articles

1936 Surrealism and Three Dimensions: Early: Context for the Art of Ceri Richards

The Modernist painter Ceri Richards had his first real exposure to European modernism in the 1920s and 1930s. The visibility of post-impressionist art and the accessibility of turn-of-the-century art theory was accelerated for him during his first years as a student in London and, despite still being at a critical cultural distance from the modern movement in Paris, the assimilation of what he understood of Matisse and his lifelong-obsession with Picasso was rapid. This article isolates the significant exposure that came next for Richards as an emerging modernist, in and around 1936, and specifically to that year's International Surrealist Exhibition held in London.

Character Strength and Happiness among Environmental and Educational Volunteers in a Collectivistic Culture

Volunteers participate in charitable activities sincerely without any certain expectations. Concerning this volunteerism, this study aims to investigate the influence of character strength on happiness in environmental and educational volunteers. Employing Seligman's happiness scale as a measurement instrument (α = 0.615) and Peterson and Seligman's (α = 0. 976) Value in Action - Inventory of Strength (VIA-IS) as a measurement instrument to determine character strength, 99 volunteers working in environmental and educational fields of voluntary organizations were recruited. The inclusion criteria for recruiting these participants included male or female participants over 18 years old, active at the organizations for at least six months, unmarried, and living in Yogyakarta. All obtained data were analyzed by using a Spearman correlation analysis technique and a regression analysis technique. The results of this study showed that some of the most influential types of character strength on happiness were leadership (r = 0.354, p = 0.000), appreciation of beauty and excellence (r = 0.337, p = 0.001), gratitude (r = 0.311, p = 0.002), forgiveness (r = 0.305, p = 0.002), and open-mindedness (r = 0.301, p = 0.002). In addition, types of character strength significantly influencing happiness are closely related to collectivistic culture.

The Work of Art in the Age of AI Image Generation

AI image generators such as DALL-E 2 are deep learning models that enable users to generate digital images based on natural language text prompts. The impressive and often surprising results leave many people puzzled: is this art, and if so, who created the art: the human or the AI? These are not just theoretical questions; they have practical ethical and legal implications, for example when raising authorship and copyright issues. This essay offers two conceptual points of entrance that may help to understand what is going on here. First it briefly discusses the question whether this this art and who or what is the artist based on aesthetics, philosophy of art, and thinking about creativity and computing. Then it asks the question regarding human-technology relations. It shows that existing notions such as instrument, extension, and (quasi) other are insufficient to conceptualize the use of this technology, and proposes instead to understand what happens as processes and performances, in which artistic subjects, objects, and roles emerge. It is concluded that based on most standard criteria in aesthetics, AI image generation can in principle create art, and that the process can be seen as poietic performances involving humans and non-humans potentially leading to the emergence of new artistic (quasi)subjects and roles in the process.

The Chinese Traditional Cultural Graphic Elements in Modern Graphic Design

Based on the arrangement of historical data on the source and artistic value of graphic elements in traditional Chinese culture, the article uses comparative research methods to analyze the art form and artistic value of graphic elements originating from Chinese civilization according to the chronicle. For the façade, according to the classification method of the graphic elements, the main features are sorted out, and the pattern characteristics, scene culture, artistic value and the meaning of the development of the graphic elements are mainly deduced. From the perspective of semiotics, it discusses the influence of graphic images extended by traditional Chinese culture on the world graphic design and the formation of new art theories arising from the fusion of Chinese and Western art. On the basis of the creative process and art form of modern graphic design, combined with the traditional and modern design interpretation of the elements of contemporary graphic design, it is proposed that the research on modern graphic design integrating graphic elements of traditional Chinese culture is a direction worthy of exploration and in-depth research. Historic data and graphic references in his research field.

Kierkegaard, Music, and Its Relation to the Performing Arts

Kierkegaard's conceptualization of his aesthetic stage of existence is lacking even with a very unstinted acknowledgment of his undeniably profound and brilliant insights. For Kierkegaard the aesthetic stage is based only on the immediacy of feeling, thus a transitoriness that ultimately leads to boredom and despair. This presentation agrees with Adorno's triadic understanding of what the aesthetic means in Kierkegaard's aesthetic writings as opposed to his religious ones. It is argued in this presentation that Kierkegaard's aesthetic stage or sphere of existence is a good deal more than passion at the sensuous level. There are too many great artists who struggled and made their lives ethically, spiritually, or religiously meaningful in blatant contradiction of Kierkegaard's demeaning of the aesthetic stage of existence. Many artists would not accept Kierkegaard's a priori assumption that sensual immediacy is the basic state of the aesthetic individual. Nevertheless, Kierkegaard's profound insights into the aesthetic sense of live music performance are an invaluable result of his informed intuition and other aesthetic writings; i.e., he asserts in some writings that the aesthetic derives only from immediacy, yet there are other writings (e.g., on music and acting) from which one can infer a broader sense of the aesthetic. It is also possible to formulate a practical realization of Kierkegaard's aesthetic philosophy by way of his profound observations on dramatic acting and applying these uncannily insightful concepts to music performance.

Performative Activism Redeemed

Abstract Over the last century, performance art has troubled the worlds of art and of philosophical aesthetics, unleashing modes of creativity and criticality that spill outside the customary boundaries of either. One of these modes is that of political activism. Performance art is genetically related to activism due to the shared historical contexts their respective waves have emerged from and responded to. In my article, I make the claim that the relationship between performance art and activism also has much to do with certain significant structural and methodological overlaps between the two. I explore these overlaps against the backdrop of extant philosophical scholarship on performativity, a selection of art historical examples, and a critique of the charge of “performative activism” that has become popular in the last decade. I see the tension between the figurative meaning of the phrase “performative activism” and its literal application to politically charged performance art as a space of philosophical opportunity. A better understanding of performance art and its political import can not only help clear up laypeople’s misconceptions of performativity, but it can also strengthen philosophy’s own position on the subject.

Metal Music and the Aesthetics of Representation

ABSTRACT Metal music is here to stay, by all outward appearances, mainly, as I shall argue, by virtue of its expressive properties. Old calumnies excoriating metal for promoting immorality and the dark arts have collapsed under their own weight. Yet this article makes the harder case for representation as a value added to metal aesthetics. Metal goes so far as to assess ancient and modern foreign policy and to represent classical art forms. Philosophical aesthetics offers new insights into metal music, as shown via the article’s discussion of debates involving Roger Scruton, Stephen Davies, and Peter Kivy, among others.

Scientific Discovery and the Scientist’s Gaze: Galileo’s Lunar Science and the Lacanian Theory of Art

One dominant explanation for Galileo’s telescopic discovery of the rough and uneven surface of the moon is that he was well-versed in painting techniques such as perspective and chiaroscuro, which emphasize a realistic representation of objects. This allowed him to grasp the appearance of the moon most accurately. This paper proposes a new interpretation of the relationship between science and art through the Galilean case, which highlights the creative process rather than realistic representation as they pertain to the beneficial role of art in advancing science. Tracing the trajectory of Galileo’s telescopic observation as described in Sidereus Nuncius, the author demonstrates that what Galileo saw were simply unidentifiable spots and that the discovery of the moon’s rough surface was an inference—the key factor being a self-distancing imagination that allowed him to see, at an imaginary distance, the homogeneous relationship of the moon and the earth to the sun. The author discusses how this self-distancing imagination, which involves re-establishing the relationship of objects through light, is uniquely connected to pictorial artistic sensibility, especially through the Lacanian theory of art. Finally, the author suggests that a love for numerous partial objects, rather than for truth, constitutes the real ethical foundation of a scientist.

미술에 있어서의 퍼스널 브랜딩

This study viewed art as an industry and discussed strategies for artists to establish themselves as important members of the art market. The brand strategy of viewing and managing individual artists as an independent personal brand was explored. We explored the potential of individual brands for Kim Whanki, Kim Tscang-yeul, and Lee Kang-so to find out about the brand identity of Korean artists. In-depth interviews were conducted with people in the art industry. They answered that building an artist's identity, continuity of activity, and active use of SNS are important factors for artists to grow as a brand. This means that it is important for the artist himself to engage in work activities with a clear direction based on his firm artistic philosophy and to continue such work activities. Communication works that actively promote and inform this are absolutely necessary. These results provide academic implications for the artist's personal brand strategy and practical implications in the contemporary art market.

Analisis Struktur Puisi “Sahabat Baik” Karya Tere Liye dengan Pendekatan Objektif

Poetry is a literary work that has high aesthetics. In contrast to other literary works, such as novels and prose. This can be seen from the structure of the literary works of poetry. In general, poetry is used as an intermediary from the outpouring of the author's heart. It can be expressed in spoken or written form using figurative language and beautiful diction. This difference is not seen from the physical structure, but also from the inner structure of the poem. The main elements in poetry consist of two structures, namely physical and mental. Both have elements that bind each other so that a complete totality of meaning is formed. With that, in interpreting a poem can not be separated from these two elements. With that in mind, in this study the researcher will conduct an analysis of the physical and mental structure of the poem entitled 'Good Friends' by Darwis Tere Liye. With the aim of describing diction, images, concrete words and figurative language as well as describing the themes, feelings, tones and messages contained in the poem. It is hoped that this study can be useful and add insight to readers in the field of literature. In this study using an objective approach. The data source is Tere Liye 'Friend of Biak' poem which was obtained from Tere Liye collection of poems. Based on the results of the analysis it is known that this poem has the theme of harmonious friendship. The poet chooses beautiful language diction through his expertise, knows the meaning of the poem to move the hearts of readers, moves them to maintain the good friends they have. Dervish Tere Liye succeeds in presenting the theme of friendship, a happy tone that is able to inspire the spirit to always appreciate, love and maintain the good friends he has because he is special compared to anything. A good friend is like a historical painting that will always have the most beautiful place for it, even though it already has new things.

Kállai Ernő német nyelven megjelent írásainak könyvészeti jegyzéke (1938-1944) •

A collection of Ernő Kállai’s writings was published forty years ago, in 1981, by Corvina publisher. The pieces were selected, prefaced and the bibliography compiled by Éva Forgács. (Kállai Ernő: Művészet veszélyes csillagzat alatt. Válogatott cikkek, tanulmányok [art under a perilous constellation. Selected articles, studies]. Ed. and pref. Éva Forgács. Budapest 1981). Kállai’s last – published – writing appeared about lászló Mednynászky in the paper Politika on 9 July 1949. He was excommunicated from the profession, silenced, he lived in misery. He made ends meet by translating, selling items of his library, or pawning. “Old chum, i learnt yesterday that the ‘Breton Calvaries’ was only worth 35 forints. That’s the price then i want for them. Segers, Hausenstein – Klee are absolute rarities or amateur values, so i can wholeheartedly recommend them to your Excellency’s attention. Can we strike a bargain?” “By the way, i must return the typewriter to doctor Kővári. That means, until i can redeem mine, i must obtrude myself on you. and type on the small remington. – i’m sorry,” he wrote to his friend Miklós Szentkuthy in 1949. (Szentkuthy Miklós válogatott levelezése [Selected correspondence of M.Sz.] Ed. Hernád imre. Budapest 2008, 150–151.) Sporadically one or another Kállai writing appeared in anthologies before 1981 (Kortársak szemével. Írások a Magyar művészetről [Through the eyes of contemporaries. Writings about Hungarian art]. Ed. and pref. Perneczky Géza. Budapest 1967; Kritikák és képek. Válogatás a Magyar képzőművészet dokumentumaiból 1945–1975 [reviews and pictures. Selection from the documents of Hungarian arts 1945–1975] Compiled: art Historical research Group, HaS. Budapest 1976.). His books – cherished treasures of their owners – passed from hand to hand among the interested.Already Éva Forgács stressed that “the precondition for restoring him to his deserved place in the history of Hungarian art which he lost thirty years ago is, apart from the collection and publication of his works, a change in attitude: not least, the still viable convention must be superseded which values and ranks a mediocre aesthete or art philosopher higher, takes him more seriously than an outstanding critic, saying that after all, he is only a critic.” (Forgács Éva: Bevezető [introduction]. in Kállai op.cit. 9). This work was accomplished by árpád Tímár, who edited the works of Ernő Kállai in eight volumes.He knew best the history of art criticism in Hungary whose foundations he laid with several decades of research into the “cemetery of dailies”, publishing writings by imre Henszlmann, lajos Fülep, György lukács, leó Popper, artúr Elek. The Kállai collection fits in this series. He termed the “possibly complete” bibliography in the volume edited by Éva Forgács a “till now unavoidable” starting point (Kállai Ernő: Összegyűjtött írások = Ernst Kállai: Gesammelte Werke i. articles, studies in Hungarian 1912–1925. Ed., after-word: Tímár árpád. Budapest 1999, 236), but during his researches he corrected and extended her list. He worked alone elaborating the Hungarian articles, and with Csilla Markója and Monika Wucher in libraries of Munich, Berlin, Pozsony and Vienna to scan the majority of German-language papers inaccessible then (and today) in Hungary, exploring several so-far unknown writings. The collected material appeared in eight elegant tomes between 1999 and 2010 (Kállai Ernő: Összegyűjtött írások = Ernst Kállai: Gesammelte Werke. i–Vi, Viii, X. Budapest 1999–2012), except volumes 7 and 9, which ought to have contained the articles published in german in 1938–1944 (in Forum, Pester Lloyd). árpád Tímár prepared the bibliography of this material – which differs in volume and the accuracy of the items from the list presented in 1981 – but he had no drive or energy to type the text of hundreds of pages; he wished to work on more important engagements. Was he right to think others could also finish this project? Well, as long as it remains a project for the future, we offer some help for those interested with the bibliography of articles written in German between 1938 and 1944

Problematika utjelovljenja u online gleda(c)torstvu

Digital media, and especially the widespread use of the internet, challenge our experience of embodied presence and consequently force us to rethink the definition of the ‘human’ body that informs our social practices. Starting from the online documentations of Guy Ben-Ary’s bio-artwork cellF (2015), Alvin Lucier’s seminal experimental music piece Music for Solo Performer (1965), and Stelarc’s performance RE-WIRED / RE-MIXED (2015) the present article participates in this debate by asking: what type of embodied identity is contoured in online specta(c)torship? From a methodological point of view, the article resonates with Mieke Bal’s insistence on the importance of the case study in art theory and in the philosophy of art. It aims at performing a philosophical intervention with respect to the contemporary understanding of embodiment starting from the experience proposed by the encounter with specific artworks.Drawing on the case studies mentioned above and on theories of embodiment formulated in a diversity of contexts — such as affect theory (Seigworth and Greg, Clough), feminist critique (Grosz, Butler), performance studies (Salazar Sutil) and the philosophy of Gilles Deleuze —, the article contends that the problematic of the embodied subject, such as it appears in online specta(c)torship, is that of an ongoing misrecognition: an ongoing decentring of the thinking subject (of the cartesian cogito) in a continuous renegotiation of the bio-techno-logical ‘self’ that grounds the ‘I’ and is in turn grounded by it.

Review Emerging Art Forms from Danto's Artistic Theories--Use John Cage' 4'33" as an Example

After the 20th century, many different art forms emerged, such as performance and installation art. Some of these new art forms are so baffling and incomprehensible that even art critics consider them not art but sensationalism by their creators. The essay seeks to justify the authenticity of emerging art forms and proceeds onto the necessary conditions to become art in Arthur Danto's art theory. The essay then examines John Cage's 4'33" with Dantos theory. The essay concludes that John Cage's 4'33" is an art form that provides an analytical model for judging contemporary emerging artistic creations.

Modern Chinese Scholars' Perspectives on Zhuangzi's Aesthetics

Modern Chinese scholars of Zhuangzi's aesthetics can be illustrated by the words of Liu Shaojin in Zhuangzi and Chinese Aesthetics. The aesthetic significance of the book Zhuangzi is not a theoretical summary of beauty and art as objects, but rather, when it comes to its 'Dao', it's understanding of The aesthetic significance of Zhuangzi's book is not a theoretical summary of beauty and art, but a coincidence between its experience and realm of 'Tao' and the aesthetic experience and realm of art. Because of this coincidence, later generations naturally transposed these philosophical questions with aesthetic overtones to the understanding of the aesthetic characteristics of art, thus giving new meaning to Zhuangzi's philosophical propositions. In this sense, people believe that the literary and artistic thoughts and aesthetic theories contained in Zhuangzi are not distinguished by the correctness of their conclusions, but by the illuminating, suggestive, and profound way in which they touch upon the issues in the course of their exposition. This suggests that Chinese scholars have a dialectical approach to Zhuangzi's philosophical aesthetics, and that needs a careful look at examples like Zhili Shu with a critical eye in modern times.

The obsolescence of sensibility: aesthetics and politics in ending time by Günther Anders

Günther Anders is still an almost secret thinker, even though his work has been progressively rediscovered in the last two decades. His reflections, moreover, are contained in a dispersed and varied work. That is why the purpose of these pages is the reconstruction of an aesthetical and political notion at the same time, present throughout it, with the aim of contributing to the discovery of a reading key that allows giving a unified image of this sparse set. It is about the idea of ​​the sensible opacity of the contemporary world, which would have been camouflaged in various ways to prevent human beings from becoming aware of their situation as mere co-historical beings with the true subject of history, technique. Through the analysis of its origin in his early writings on the philosophy of particular arts (literature, music, plastic) to its generalization as a critical key to read the dangers of the contemporary world (his and ours), it is our intention to highlight the actuality of a critical and materialistic thought that, arisen in the heat of events, has left a valuable legacy to think about our own present.

The skillful means and meanings of philosophy: Attention and immersion in the philosophical art of writing

AbstractThis response to Richard Shusterman's Philosophy and the Art of Writing focuses on his concern that philosophy is, first and foremost, a way of life, illustrated in the West by the Socratic ideal of the philosopher and in the East by the example of the scholar‐artist‐gentleman. This paper examines the process of Buddhist meditation and the process of creating novels, supplementing the authors Shusterman carefully examines with examples from Black American literature, the author's own teacher John Gardner, and artistic colleagues the author has known. The basic thrust of the response is that the skillful means used in writing can indeed be a form of self‐creation, but it can also be a means of liberation from the self.

Sensitivity to moral goodness under different aesthetic contexts

ABSTRACT Does context influence our appreciation of beauty? To answer this question, two experiments were conducted to determine the effect of contextual aesthetics on the recognition of moral behavior. Experiment 1 demonstrated that individuals in a high-aesthetic context had a quicker recognition time for moral behavior than those in a low-aesthetic context. In a low-aesthetic context, individuals recognize immoral behavior more quickly than in a high aesthetic context. Individuals showed greater recognition rates for moral behavior in a high aesthetic context and higher recognition for immoral behaviors in a low aesthetic context for behavior with unclear information. Experiment 2 revealed that individual fixation counts were smaller under the conditions of high aesthetic context and moral behavior than under the conditions of low aesthetic context and moral behavior, indicating a correlation between low aesthetic context and immoral behavior. This study shows that high aesthetic context facilitates the recognition of moral behavior, which has implications for moral education.

Defining Art as Phenomenal Being

At the beginning of the 20th century, the definition of art became one of the difficult topics of aesthetics and art theory. The emergence of the institutional approach and the debates surrounding it provoked many responses. This article proposes one possible response that uses Kant’s example of category deduction as a productive analogy that can serve as a “deduction of art categories”. Art is seen as a phenomenal entity constituted by multiple meaning perspectives, each of which has a figure representing it (author, spectator, patron, collector, curator, connoisseur, critic, historian, typologist, theorist, aesthetician, and metaphysician). The position of each of these figures legitimates a categorical definition that participates in the constitution of the “phenomenal being of art”.

Performance Art and Feminism: Bodies of Care and Patience

This paper examines the concepts of “care” and “patience” under capitalism and in relation to social reproduction theory through performative works of art. The idea that reproduction is not about creating life but instead the creation of new workers has preoccupied a new wave of feminist theorists and activists who wish to explore women’s place and labour in and outside the sphere of production and explain the relationship between oppression and exploitation. Although working class women have been carrying the burden of the extra physical, mental and emotional labour generated by the Coronavirus disease of 2019, social reproduction theorists and survey data show that women have been performing a disproportionate amount of unpaid care and housework long before the pandemic. The feminisation and devaluation of care labour that patriarchal capitalism promotes can only lead to women’s systematic subjugation. Through the critical feminist analysis of performative works by Chrysi Tsiota, Fotini Kalle and Angeliki Avgitidou that draws on the writings of Silvia Federici, Tithi Bhattacharya and Emma Dowling among others, and the theorisation of “patience” by philosophers Slavoj Žižek and Alain Badiou this paper interconnects the notions of care and patience to expose women’s economic and sexist exploitation and deepen our understanding of everyday life in neoliberal capitalism. Arguing that despite the intense engagement of Greek women artists with issues around reproductive labour, the lack of a feminist art history and theory in Greece has led to the marginalisation of such discussions, this paper aims to bring in light important works of performance art and the necessity for such issues to be addressed within the Greek borders.

Art by Proxy

Abstract Cultural theories of art were developed to account for the arthood of nonaesthetic and nonimitative artworks. Historical theories such as those proposed by Jerrold Levinson, James Carney, and Noël Carroll fail to account for the arthood of first art and ethnological objects, as does the disjunctive theory of Stephen Davies. An institutional (artworld-based) theory, such as George Dickie’s 1977 version, can account for the arthood of art made within the context of an artworld. But what of objects that are art now but were not made in an artworld context? I add a supplement to Dickie’s institutional theory: the concept of art by proxy.