Art Appreciation

Lecture Series 1
Asst. Prof. Maximo B. Sauz Jr.
Course Facilitator
Functions of Art
Ideally, one can look at a piece of art and guess with some accuracy where it came from and
when. This best-case scenario also includes identifying the artist because they are in no small
way part of the contextual equation. You might wonder, "What was the artist thinking when
they created this?" when you see a piece of art. You, the viewer, are the other half of this
equation; you might ask yourself how that same piece of art makes you feel as you look at it.

These—in addition to the time period, location of creation, cultural influences, etc.—are all
factors that should be considered before trying to assign functions to art. Taking anything
out of context can lead to misunderstanding art and misinterpreting an artist's intentions,
which is never something you want to do.
 The functions of art normally fall into three categories: physical, social, and
personal. These categories can and often do overlap in any given piece of
art. 

Physical
The physical functions of art are often the easiest to understand. Works of art that are created to
perform some service have physical functions. If you see a Fijian war club, you may assume that,
however wonderful the craftsmanship may be, it was created to perform the physical function of
smashing skulls.

A Japanese raku bowl is a piece of art that performs a physical function in a tea ceremony.
Conversely, a fur-covered teacup from the Dada movement has no physical function.
Architecture, crafts such as welding and woodworking, interior design, and industrial design are
all types of art that serve physical functions.
Social
Art has a social function when it addresses aspects
of (collective) life as opposed to one person's point
of view or experience. Viewers can often relate in
some way to social art and are sometimes even
influenced by it.
For example, public art in 1930s Germany had an
overwhelming symbolic theme. Did this art exert
influence on the German population? Decidedly
so, as did political and patriotic posters in Allied
countries during the same time. Political art, often
designed to deliver a certain message, always
carries a social function. The fur-covered Dada
teacup, useless for holding tea, carried a social
function in that it protested World War I (and
nearly everything else in life).
Art that depicts social conditions performs social
functions and often this art comes in the form of
photography. The Realists figured this out early in the
19th century. American photographer Dorothea Lange
(1895–1965) along with many others often took pictures
of people in conditions that are difficult to see and think
about.
Additionally, satire performs social functions. Spanish
painter Francisco Goya (1746–1828) and English portrait
artist William Hogarth (1697–1764) both went this route
with varying degrees of success at motivating social
change with their art. Sometimes the possession of
specific pieces of art in a community can elevate that
community's status. A stabile by American kinetic artist
Alexander Calder (1898–1976), for example, can be a
community treasure and point of pride.
Personal
The personal functions of art are often the most difficult to explain. There are many types of
personal functions and these are highly subjective. Personal functions of art are not likely to be the
same from person to person.

An artist may create a piece out of a need for self-expression or gratification. They might also or
instead want to communicate a thought or point to the viewer. Sometimes an artist is only trying to
provide an aesthetic experience, both for self and viewers. A piece might be meant to entertain,
provoke thought, or even have no particular effect at all.

Personal function is vague for a reason. From artist to artist and viewer to viewer, one's experience
with art is different. Knowing the background and behaviors of an artist helps when interpreting the
personal function of their pieces.

Art may also serve the personal function of controlling its viewers, much like social art. It can also
perform religious service or acknowledgment. Art has been used to attempt to exert magical control,
change the seasons, and even acquire food. Some art brings order and peace, some creates chaos.
There is virtually no limit to how art can be used.
Determining the Function of Art
The functions of art apply not only to the artist that created a piece but to you as the
viewer. Your whole experience and understanding of a piece should contribute to the
function you assign it, as well as everything you know about its context. Next time you
are trying to understand a piece of art, try to remember these four points: (1) context
and (2) personal, (3) social, and (4) physical functions. Remember that some art
serves only one function and some all three (perhaps even more).
The 3 major constitute of art generally includes:

1. Visual Arts 2. Literature Arts 3. Performing

Arts. Visual Arts: 

Visual Arts is one of the finest forms of art to express

feelings, emotions, and imagination of an artist. It is
simply an expression of an artist who holds apparatuses
including graphite pencils, pen, ink, wax shading,
pencils, colored pencils, charcoal, chalk, pastels and
much more relies upon its purpose and nature. The main
forms of visual arts includes ceramics, drawing, painting,
sculpting, architecture, photography and much more.
Literature Arts:

 Literature Arts is exceptionally self-expressive in light of

the fact that, this creative writing expresses the writer or
an author emotions, feeling, a point of views and much
more. This form of arts is informative yet imaginative
(style of writing), where it generally uses metaphorical
literary dialects, phrase and much more. The main form
of literature arts includes Poetry, Fiction writing, Play-
writing, Epic poetry and much more. Remember,
Literature Arts is creative and highly entertaining forms
of art as we all love listening to stories, we all enjoy
reading Novels. In this way, Literature Arts is one of the
most cherished forms of art by the audience.
Performing Arts: 

One of the most expressive, appreciated and loved by the

millions of people, Performing Arts includes drama, music,
dance, theater and much more. Performing Arts like dance
generally uses sound (music), as well as body along with
expression, resulting in a rhythmic enigma. Unlike the other
forms of art, the artist in the performing Arts is generally known
as the performer. While, the performer can likewise be
determined into dancer, singer, musicians, comedians, actors and
so on.
One of the great challenges today is that we often feel untouched by the problems of others and
by global issues like climate change, even when we could easily do something to help. We do not
feel strongly enough that we are part of a global community, part of a larger we. Giving people
access to data most often leaves them feeling overwhelmed and disconnected, not empowered and
poised for action. This is where art can make a difference. Art does not show people what to do, yet
engaging with a good work of art can connect you to your senses, body, and mind. It can make the
world felt. And this felt feeling may spur thinking, engagement, and even action.

As an artist I have travelled to many countries around the world over the past 20 years. On one day I
may stand in front of an audience of global leaders or exchange thoughts with a foreign minister and
discuss the construction of an artwork or exhibition with local craftsmen the next. Working as an
artist has brought me into contact with a wealth of outlooks on the world and introduced me to a
vast range of truly differing perceptions, felt ideas, and knowledge. Being able to take part in these
local and global exchanges has profoundly affected the artworks that I make, driving me to create art
that I hope touches people everywhere.
Most of us know the feeling of being moved by a work of art, whether
it is a song, a play, a poem, a novel, a painting, or a spatio-temporal
experiment. When we are touched, we are moved; we are transported
to a new place that is, nevertheless, strongly rooted in a physical
experience, in our bodies. We become aware of a feeling that may not
be unfamiliar to us but which we did not actively focus on before. This
transformative experience is what art is constantly seeking.

I believe that one of the major responsibilities of artists – and the idea
that artists have responsibilities may come as a surprise to some – is to
help people not only get to know and understand something with
their minds but also to feel it emotionally and physically. By doing this,
art can mitigate the numbing effect created by the glut of information
we are faced with today, and motivate people to turn thinking into
doing.
Engaging with art is not simply a solitary event. The arts and culture represent one of the few
areas in our society where people can come together to share an experience even if they see
the world in radically different ways. The important thing is not that we agree about the
experience that we share, but that we consider it worthwhile sharing an experience at all. In art
and other forms of cultural expression, disagreement is accepted and embraced as an essential
ingredient. In this sense, the community created by arts and culture is potentially a great source
of inspiration for politicians and activists who work to transcend the polarising populism and
stigmatisation of other people, positions, and worldviews that is sadly so endemic in public
discourse today.

Art also encourages us to cherish intuition, uncertainty, and creativity and to search constantly
for new ideas; artists aim to break rules and find unorthodox ways of approaching
contemporary issues. My friend Ai Weiwei, for example, the great Chinese artist, is currently
making a temporary studio on the island of Lesbos to draw attention to the plight of the millions
of migrants trying to enter Europe right now and also to create a point of contact that takes us
beyond an us-and-them mentality to a broader idea of what constitutes we. This is one way
that art can engage with the world to change the world.
Little Sun, a solar energy project and social business that I set up in 2012 with engineer Frederik
Ottesen, is another example of what I believe art can do. Light is so incredibly important to me, and
many of my works use light as their primary material. The immaterial qualities of light shape life. Light
is life. This is why we started Little Sun.

On a practical level, we work to promote solar energy for all – Little Sun responds to the need to
develop sustainable, renewable energy by producing and distributing affordable solar-powered lamps
and mobile chargers, focusing especially on reaching regions of the world that do not have consistent
access to an electrical grid. At the same time, Little Sun is also about making people feel connected to
the lives of others in places that are far away geographically. For those who pick up a Little Sun solar
lamp, hold it in their hands, and use it to light their evening, the lamp communicates a feeling of
having resources and of being powerful. With Little Sun you tap into the energy of the sun to power up
with solar energy. It takes something that belongs to all of us – the sun – and makes it available to each
of us. This feeling of having personal power is something we can all identify with. Little Sun creates a
community based around this feeling that spans the globe.
I am convinced that by bringing us together to share and discuss, a work of art can make us
more tolerant of difference and of one another. The encounter with art – and with others
over art – can help us identify with one another, expand our notions of we, and show us
that individual engagement in the world has actual consequences. That’s why I hope that in
the future, art will be invited to take part in discussions of social, political, and ecological
issues even more than it is currently and that artists will be included when leaders at all
levels, from the local to the global, consider solutions to the challenges that face us in the
world today.

Olafur Eliasson is one of the recipients of this year's Crystal Awards, presented at the Annual Meeting
in Davos. You can follow him on Twitter via @olafureliasson