Practice in Artmaking, Art Criticism & Art History

Artmaking

− There are several important factors and elements to consider when examining your own and
other artist's artmaking process. These include:

1. The treatment and use of materials.

2. The representation of thoughts, feelings and experiences.
3. Stylistic innovations.
4. The artist's intention and philosophy.
5. Emerging technologies (or use of existing ones)
6. Personal symbols and signs
7. Ideas and concepts.

− Every artwork contains layers of meaning. An artist can make each layer as obvious or as subtle
as he/she sees fit. It is important to note how the artist achieves their conveyance of meaning as
opposed to simply stating what the artist was trying to say. (Instead of saying what they are
trying to say, write about how they are saying it.)
− It is important to examine the influence of the world on an artist. You should have an
understanding of the artist's context so that you can write about how their experiences and
surroundings have influenced their artmaking.
− Know the artist's purpose in creating their artwork. Knowing an artist's intention is a key
factor to mention when writing about them.

Important Stuff To Remember About Artmaking

 The development of ideas and concepts.

 The application of technologies (new or old).
 The response to the surrounding world.
 The influence of events and issues on the artist.
 Innovation within the medium.
 Acknowledgement of the multiple ways an audience can interpret the work.
 Development of personal signs and symbols.
 Development of a recognisable style or treatment of subject matter.
 Reflection of the artist's beliefs and values.
 Consistency between works (see above “recognisable style”)
 Art Criticism
− “Art Criticism” refers to the mapping of the ways in which different meanings are represented
in artworks. An art critic aims to asses the qualities of an artwork, how an artist develops and
produces the artwork and how the audience views, understands, interprets and appreciates
the artwork.
− Think of a critic as a navigator who provides a way of “reading a map” about the visual arts.
Just like a literary critic deconstructs, analyzes and extracts the meaning from a text, so too does
an art critic with artworks.
− Good art critics should be able to read an artwork in terms of it's visual language. They should
be able to recognize technical aptidute (how well the work has been constructed) aswell as
evaluate the extent to which a concept is conveyed through the work.
− Critics are able to explain and establish the relevance of a work to it's audience and are also able
to highlight any conventions and codes that are found in the work.

There are two generalized categories of critics; Conservative and Radical.

Conservative Critics

− Take a conventional approach to discussing art.

− Base their judgements off classical and traditional aesthetic conventions.
− Primarily concered with the structural aspect of the work. (How well it has been produced).

Radical Critics

− Account for artworks that are different from the ones examined by traditional or conservative
critics.
− Examine how meaning is constructed. Believe that the meaning of an artwork can differ from
person to person depending on the individuals own specific context and interpretation of the
piece.
− Generally questions the conventions and codes within art and reviews artworks under a
postmodern lens.

While writing critically about art (taking the position of an art critic) in the HSC, you should
involve more than just your own personal judgements, be able to clearly describe why or why
not an artwork is effective, assess an artwork in terms of it's relation to the world and be able to
demonstrate a specialised knowledge of the visual arts.

Important Stuff To Remember About Art Critiscm

 Evalute the key aspects in an artwork.

 Evaluate the extent to which an artist has conveyed his/her ideas.
 Explain the signs, symbols and codes found in the artwork.
 Locate and outline the contextual information of the artist. Link this to the artwork.
 Explain the relevance of the work to it's audience.
 Explain the meaning of the work.
 Consider and highlight significant aspects of the artwork and the artist.
 Employ a conservative or radical approach. Alternatively, combine elements of both
approaches.
 Explain and outline how meaning has been shown in the work.
 Art History
− The study of art history involves examining the significance of artworks and artists in relation to
their contexts.
− Under the lens of an art historian, artworks can be considered as a reflection of the times in
which they were completed.
− Art historians aim to find links between events of the time and the way society and individuals
thought and acted. They will examine the evolution of art and the styles of artists, aswell as
evaluate the influence of cultural qualities of the time on the shaping of works.
− In the study of art history, it is important to be able to identify and catergorize specific ideas and
stylistic conventions in certain time periods. (For example a specific style of art “belongs”
belongs in a specific time period.)

There are two ways to approach and understand the history of art.

− Narrative history; what happened? The listing and recording of factual events.
− Analytic history; why did it happen? Evaluates and examines the causes of factual events.

It is important to use both of these approaches in order to gain an accurate and valuable
understanding of art history. Knowing which events occurred is only relevant and useful in art
history when you also understand why it happened.

− Consider artworks as a “window to the past”. They can often be seen as a primary source that
provides insight into the context of the artists.
− In the exam, it is important to have a clear understanding of your artist's historical context. It is
also important to link the historical period and the artist that existed within it.
− When writing about art history, don't assess an artwork based off of the current conventions of
the artmaking world. Examine the works in terms of the context of their time of composition.
This shows the examiner that you have a concise and broad understanding of art history.

Important Stuff To Remember About Art History

 Have a factual and objective understanding of events and issues.

 Study the subject matter, genre and style of the work.
 Present an artwork as a “window” into a particular time and place.
 Have a complex understanding of life in each historical period, not just a basic description
of circumstances.
 Research and investigate the time periods extensively so that you can create effective
theories as to what happened and why.
 Examine the link between the past and present. (The effects of past artists on the current art
world).
 Study the artist's philosophy.
 Study the ideology of the time period.
 Investigate the attitudes and social behaviours of the time.
 Come up with your own interpretation of historical worlds.
The Conceptual Framework
The Four Agencies of the Artworld
− The entirity of our study of art can be broken down into four smaller agencies. This makes it
easier to comprehend, as instead of trying to understand massive chunks of info, we can instead
study smaller, seperate parts and then investigate how each of the four parts combines to form
our understanding of art.
− The four agencies are:

1. The Artist
2. The Artwork
3. The World
4. The Audience

− These four components are known as the Conceptual Framework, and it is important to examine
how each of the four agencies relates to another. An effective artwork will demonstrate a clear
link between the artist, the artwork, the world and the audience.

Summary of Each of The Four Agencies:

− The artist is the person who creates the artwork. They attempt to create a link between
themselves and the audience, and this link is their artworks. The term “artist” can refer to either
an individual or a group who are involved in a specific approach to artmaking.
− The artwork is the link between the audience and the artist. It is how the artist conveys their
message and can also be seen as a reflection of the time and world in which it was composed.
− The world refers to the context of the artwork; the time and place in which it was produced. The
key factor to considered when examining the world agency is the ideas and values of the time.
This allows for an understanding of how history has influenced artworks.
− The audience is anyone who views or comments on artworks. This can include art critics and
historians, or even the general public. It is the audience that offers names for new styles of art
and categorizes the various approaches to artmaking (see “Art History”). An audience gives
value to an artwork because it's effectiveness is determined by how clearly the artist's intentions
and meanings have been portrayed.

Basically, any artwork can be judged based on it's effective link of each of the four agencies. An
effective artwork will link the artist, the world, the artwork and the audience together. Each of the
four elements should relate to another.

It's somewhat similar to “textual integrity” in English.

 Using The Conceptual Framework
− It's kinda hard to study the Conceptual Framework because many sources of info usually only
refer to one or two agencies at a time. It's important to gather multiple sources for each of your
artists so that all agencies (artist, artwork, audience and world) can be addressed.

Example of An Effective Study of The Conceptual Framework

Pop Art
Artist Examples of artists in the pop art movement:
Andy Warhol
Roy Lichtenstein
Robert Rauschenberg
Richard Hamilton
Jasper Johns
James Rosenquist
Claes Oldenberg
Artwork Warhol, Marily Monroe Diptych, 1962, screen-print on canvas
Lichtenstein, Drowning Girl, 1963, oil and synthetic polymer on canvas
Rauschenberg, Retroactive 1, 1964, screen-print
Johns, White Flag, 1955, encaustic and collage on canvas
Rosenquist, F-111, 1965, oil on canvas and aluminium
Oldenberg, Two Cheeseburgers, With Everything, 1962, enamel painted over plaster
Audience Leo Castelli – curator who collected pop artists' work from the beginning of the
movement
Max Kozloff – critic who investigated the development of pop art
Lawrence Alloway – English critic who first coined the term “pop art” in 1959
Robert and Ethel Scull – collectors of pop artists' works who championed their
approach to artmaking
World Late 1950s and the 1960s
Generation is developing into the “hippie” generation
TV is invented
The Cold War is at it's height
The Vietnam war occurs
Monroe dies of an overdose
Martin Luther King and JFK get assasinated (pwned)
USA elevates itself to the industrial capital of the world
Student riots in Paris in 1968 highlight the questioning of authority in society
The Frames
What are the Frames?
− The frames are simply ways to examine an artwork. There are four ways to study an artwork
and the artist's intentions:

1. Subjective
This looks at the feelings and emotional responses we can get from artworks. It is the
personal frame.

2. Structural
This is the physical form of the artwork. It examines how it is constructed, ie what
materials and technologies are used in it's composition.

3. Cultural
This frame examines how the artwork represents and reflects the cultural values of
the artist's context.

4. Postmodern
This looks at artworks using contemporary knowledge and critical theories that were
that were established in the 1980s to challenge traditional and “modernist” ideas.

− The frames are important because they provide four unique ways to look at an artwork, and this
multiple-viewing of a work results in a deeper understanding of the work and the artist's
intentions.
− Perhaps the most important reason that frames are useful is because they provide a defined set
of guidelines and paramaters to examine an artwork. This method of viewing artworks means
your judgements will be consistent across artworks.
− Finally, the frames allow you to see what is most significant in an artwork.

Stuff To Remember About The Frames

− Remember to approriately apply the Frames and discuss their significance in the analysis of
artworks. It's worth spending time practicing your assesment of various artworks from different
contexts and styles through the different frames. This means you will be well equipped to
analyze any artwork given to you in an exam.
 Breakdown of Frames (Things to Remember)

Subjective Frame

− Personal concerns are paramount to an artist in his or her artmaking.

− The personal beliefs and values of the artist as conveyed in the work.
− The artist's spiritual, psychological or emotional experiences.
− The ability of the works to provoke emotional and intellectual responses from the audience.
− The intimacy of the artwork to the audience and/or artist.
− The use of an artwork as a means for the artist to convey their own experiences.
− The question of how the audience responds or empathises with the artwork.

Structural Frame

− Remember the formal elements of the artwork that shows certain conventions and rules that rely
to the artist's personal style or material practice.
− Recognize the underlying features that influences and determines the actual structure of the
artwork.
− The use of aesthetic signs and symbols in the work.
− How effectively visual conventions are used to convey the ideas of the artist.
− How “aesthetically pleasing” is the work? eg Is it a decently composed piece of art?
− The artist's particular approach to artmaking.

Cultural Frame

− How the artist mirrors the values and influences of society.

− Understanding the link between social circumstances depicted in works and an understanding of
culture and society.
− The impact of specific ideologies on the artist/audience.
− How both majority social groups (the mainstream) and marginal groups are represented.
− How the artwork (and art in general) reflects the richness, diversity and uniqueness of a culture,
and proving how art does not exist “in a vacuum”; it is influenced by everything around it.
− How the artwork investigates issues such as race, gender, politics and class.

Postmodern Frame

− Challenges the authority of conventions in the art world.

− Uses irony, parody and recontexulization (approriation)
− States that language is the most important thing in communicating meaning, because meaning
can differ between people depending on their interpretation of a work
− New technologies (like digital art making tools) are used
− All components of an artwork are seen as equally important
− Employs fun and unique aesthetic conventions, tries to break down the ideas and pre-established
conventions of art.
− The creation of meaning is often left to the audience instead of the artist. In other words, the
meaning is created through the audience's interpretation of the work.
 Basic Terms

Basically means “make a judgement about.” If the question asks “Evalute

evaluate the extent” or “Evalute the above quote” then it's just asking to make a
judgement on the subject. “The above quote can be seen as somewhat
true because....” “The artist succsesfully conveys his meaning because”.
explain To clarify. Does this really need a definition?
context The time and place in which something exists.