Lascaux and Modern day
The Lascaux cave paintings are an interesting bit of history. I believe that the artists were trying to pass down their legacy not only their individual legacy but their group's legacy. By this I mean they are trying to say "we were here" and "this is us", the paintings are their life stories immortalized as well as some self-expression. The outnumbering amount of animals to themselves might be because that was their environment, they were surrounded by these animals, and in the early days of our history, one could imagine how secluded they may have felt while being surrounded by them. Not only were they surrounded by animals but those animals were their ways of life. They were hunted for food, their pelts used for warmth, and the rest of them for other various parts of life. In the event that they would go missing, these paintings would tell their stories. Besides telling their stories and saying "we were here", which could be considered a form of culture, they could serve other purposes such as an index of animals in the area, a way of teaching the young about their environment, or even a spiritual connection to these animals and the nature around them they felt needed to be documented. These paintings can give us a better idea of what it was like to be around then, the idea of a big dumb "caveman" fades away when you see the sophistication of the drawings and the possible purpose of their existence. The idea of their surroundings impacting their art is just as real now as it was in those days. Artists pull from their lives to create their art in the modern-day in many different ways. They might pull more than just ideas from their lives but also when there are constraints of materials or space to do it. For example graffiti, many people who started graffiti did not have money to pursue art in the form of fancy canvas and paint. Instead, a can of spray paint and an alley wall away from others becomes the canvas and tool.
There are many art forms that leave me dumbstruck. Three that I will share are music (guitar specifically) and photography such as accidental Renaissance, and street photography. I believe that in art in general the purpose is to express yourself. In the sense of the guitar, there are so many different emotions that can be elicited through playing, not only with the change of tone but speed. It's hard to explain these things because they're more of feelings and vibes that are in my opinion indescribable especially when you are the player. What I also like about this art form is that there is no common look there are all different types of players and types of music. Usually, players also do not stick to one type of music and they have their own individual look and set of play styles. What I like about the accidental renaissance is that the photos look very dramatic. Dramatic and full of life they're bursting with energy which sometimes life doesn't feel like anything special but when you see these photos you can feel that there is more than that little feeling. Street photography is something I like because it doesn't make anything look better than it is. It is gritty and shows the average everyday and sometimes less fortunate ways of life that are forgotten about when higher life is glamorized. It is raw and real which can draw people's eyes to problems that are usually hidden. I think that this type of art form has the most impact on society because it pushes problems into people's faces, problems they would rather ignore. But these problems need to be seen are looked into.
Links to guitar:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnkwat11O5M&list=WL&index=12&t=127s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOwhA0kpy6A
Links to photography:
https://liminul.xyz/what-is-accidental-renaissance/
https://andrewstuder.com/street-photography-in-india/
There were three distinct sections in these guidelines with several questions to address within them. I see two rather large paragraphs here and its difficult to parse out where you address each prompt.
ReplyDeleteSince this is the last assignment, I can only recommend that for other writing assignments in other classes, I suggest following the guidelines in the assignment as your cue on how to format your paper, with a different paragraph for each prompt. Make it easier for your reader (and grader) to review your writing.
Section 1:
Re: Message... " I believe that the artists were trying to pass down their legacy not only their individual legacy but their group's legacy."
To whom? The answer really matters. We are talking about a group of people who's focus is survival, battling the environment and dangerous threats every day. Would they be worried about how people hundreds or even thousands of years in the future thought about them? Or were they only thinking about the near future, perhaps when their own population returned to this site during the next migratory period? They would be able to use the information in the paintings to help them with hunting, correct?
"their life stories immortalized as well as some self-expression"
Again, why would this matter to people more concerned with obtaining food and shelter?
Are you familiar with Maslow's Heirarchy of needs? What you are describing is at the top of that heirarchy and is associated with people who's basic needs are met. Does that match what was likely happening with this population? (https://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html)
Re: Animals... But humans were in their environment as well, right? Both friend and foe. So their exclusion is interesting. And the humans are essentially stick figures, where the animals are depicted in detail and color. Could it simply be that they knew what humans looked like already? ;-) It was the animals that they needed to record for future information?
Re: Aspects of culture... "They were hunted for food, their pelts used for warmth, and the rest of them for other various parts of life."
This is the only sentence I can find that seems to address the "aspects of culture" prompts (third question). Yes, these images tell us the animals they hunted and perhaps the tools they used to do so and maybe even some strategies. But sometimes (like with the absence of people), what is missing tells us as much as what is actually there. Seems like the information in the paintings is solely about hunting. Considering hunting is traditionally a male practice, with women doing the gathering, does this tell you anything about who was doing these paintings? Would the paintings have been different if women were doing the painting?
Re: Difficulties... I don't see where you address this question.
Re: Functions... Yes on teaching and record-keeping. Be careful about applying a "spiritual" function here. Is there any evidence of that?
Section 2: Yes, artists pull from their lives and put it into their art, but the question here is comparing the function of the ancient and more modern art. Do they have any similarities? Art functions as far more than self-expression. It is can communicate information and ideas or record events for future populations. It can generate anger or support or passion. It can inspire others to act or bolster a person's courage. It can teach and inform and make people aware of important issues or concerns. One great example of this is photography, which is used to communicate and inform people of events, positive or negative, and can be used to inspire people to act or warn of impending horrific events. Think a bit more deeply on this. How many of these functions can also be applied to these cave paintings?
Section 3: I only asked for one here so you could focus and go a bit more deeply instead. Addressing three leaves them all short-changed. The street-art in particular is intriguing and I would have liked you to expand on just that. Partial credit here.
Hello Andrew,
ReplyDeleteI agree that the painters that displayed their art in the caves were trying to leave a story for other group like themselves. They might have not even known that years later their paintings would be appreciated as art. I also liked that you mentioned the animals might have had a spiritual connections to the humans in this population. I know that in Indian, the cow is seen as a sacred animal and cannot be harm. In your section about the guitars, I liked how enthusiastic you were. I agree that certain music tones and lyrics change the way you may feel.