Purpose of Art

Purpose of Art - The Concept

The main purpose of art is the expression of boundless ideas and concepts. This endeavor can model behaviors, shape beliefs, and create shared experiences. In effect, it draws back to us, grows inside us, and becomes a part of us. Through its diverse forms, like literature, music, sculpture, and paintings, art touches every facet of our lives.

The Details

An element of definite joy, pleasure, and awareness, art serves the following functions:

• Religious - The oldest and still prevalent key purpose of art is as a vehicle for religious ritual, witnessed through the Prehistoric Paintings of France to those of Sistine Chapel in Italy.
• Events Capture - It may also serve as a commemoration of crucial events, such as major historical incident, wedding, and baptism to mention some.
• Communication - It is a way to communicate with others such as greetings.
• Publicity - Art is also a platform for propaganda or social commentary. Inspirations have been drawn from particular viewpoints or the actions of public or private institutions, like political parties, lobbyists, government, corporate, or religious groups perform. The purpose roots mainly to the merciless World War II and its after effects. In the case of social commentary, art helps us generate the awareness of past or prevailing human conditions, as per an artist's perception.
• Expression of Human Creative Instinct - Through it, we can capture any incident, emotion, or anything, which we can or cannot tap in a photograph. Art is a means of exploring and appreciating formal as well as informal elements. It expands and extends the shared common visual language. When artists come up with new ideas, they are initially perceived as shocking and perhaps incomprehensible. With time however, the ideas are accepted.
• Novelty - Art explores and unveils new ways and angles to familiar things. It helps interpret situations, new and old, making the use of various kinds of visual shorthand.
• Visual Concept Capture - It may also be considered as a means of recording visual data. After the Renaissance (14th-17th centuries), French artists like Courbet (1819-77) and Cezanne (1839-1906) showcased more realty based subjects, such as the use of linear perspective and Realism, through oil painting.
• Parameter of Beauty - Art as a representative of beauty is a challenged concept in the modern era. With the society becoming more industrialized and democratic, the world has broadened its horizons of beauty. Dipped so much in subjectivity for the quotient, any definite parameter cannot be set vis-à-vis art.
• Narration - It is also a powerful means of storytelling. In the Middle Ages (5th-16th centuries), the sequences of panels were used to tell stories from scriptures or the lives of Saints.

Annette Labedzki received her BFA at the Emily Carr College of Art and Design in Vancouver, B.C. Canada. She has more than 25 years experience. She is the founder and developer of an online art gallery featuring original art from all over the world. Please visit the website at http://www.Labedzki-Art.com It is a great site for art collectors to buy original art. Artists can join for free and their image upload is unlimited.

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Wall Art For All Age Groups and Societies

'Painting as a hobby? It is such a boring task!' - This is what usually people respond to this form of art. But, they do not know the importance of this art work. We all know about Picasso and M F Hussain due to their elegant paintings, but there is a segment of society who does not give attention to paintings due to their ignorance or disinterest. If noticed, this section of individuals is very less as compared to art lovers. People who appreciate art have considered wall art to the best accents for home décor.

From the plethora of options available, people give prime importance to art prints to embellish living spaces. Furniture and rugs are commonly used to fill in the empty space in the house, but people also believe that a plain white wall reflects emptiness and a lack of creativity. Therefore they opt for art prints.

Depending on the room, the wall art is selected. If it's a kid's room, there are many art works that highlight colors and designs to attract kids. Fine art for kids is widely available with a desire to engage and inspire children. Hand-sketched canvas arts have captivated many people due to their looks. They look real and offer smoothness.

Additionally for couples, contemporary design is one of the art prints that are highly acceptable due to colorfulness.

Besides that, people are perhaps looking to add a personal touch to their home or office. In this case, they are in search of something that reflects a bit of their personality. They, therefore, consider modern wall art. According to their requirement, they customize the canvas print or just choose the best wall art from the renowned art gallery. What's more; exquisite paintings of possibly every genre are also chosen to adorn the home décor.

People also look out for a supplier who can introduce a personal photo onto the canvases and frames, giving living spaces a range of auras from the chic and sophistication to simple beauty. Art devotees also delve into duplicates of Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dali and many more brilliant painters as they cannot afford to purchase these costly paintings.

In the last two decades, wall decor has immensely enhanced its reach through oil and canvas paintings. Art print collectors and enthusiasts along with interior decorators use single large pieces frequently. Other art lovers also consider two or more art paintings to define their taste in arts or the kinship for beauty.

Due to the growing demand in today's world, there are many professionals who specialize in a multitude of art types such as Abstract, Asian and American art. Apart from that, parents consider paintings to be a career option (not only a hobby).

Wall art is highly appreciated and should be encouraged to exhibit the brilliance of the painters who dedicate utmost care and precision to deliver the best of the best art. You can even encourage the growing art demand by purchasing them online for affordable prices.

Art Van Buren is author of this article on Wall Art.
Find more information about Home Decor here.

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Allegory - A Metaphorical Art Style

Allegory - The Concept
In visual arts (painting & sculpture), Allegory is the Symbolic representation of 'beyond' or 'in addition to' the depiction or the obvious. Similar to literary metaphor, artists use one subject to represent another seemingly unrelated subject.

The Details
With Symbolism as its foundation, broad, sweeping, and abstract concepts are the commonest themes of Allegory. Classical, philosophical, & theological virtues and vices, such as faith, hope, charity, courage, greed, lust, wrath, & pride have been the most popular ideas in this genre. Another dominant theme here is 'the arts' to convey a creative concept, such as painting, sculpture, music, dance, and poetry, visually. The viewer often needs to know the broader vision of an artwork to understand its metaphorical components.

The History
The metaphorical mode of storytelling in visual arts was immensely popular in European Arts during the Renaissance (1400-1525) and Baroque (1500-1700) periods. Heavily promoted by Catholic Church, it was a medium to make people aware of Salvation and to emphasize the role of Church in attaining it. The popularity of classical themes was also instrumental in the rise of Allegorical subjects in literature and painting during this period. The gradual collapse of traditional court culture and religious orthodoxy in the 18th century redefined artistic practice. The portrayals shifted from religious, historical, and allegorical subjects to highly individual elevated themes often relating to day-to-day living.

The Artists & the Artworks
• 'Charity' (1520) by Andre del Sarto (Italy, 1486-1530) represents this theological virtue as a woman with several small children.
• 'The Musicians' (1595) by Michelangelo Carravaggio (Italy, 1571-1610) shows Allegory of Music. Four boys are portrayed in classical costumes. They are playing various instruments and singing.
• 'The Art of Painting' (1666) by Johannes Vermeer (Dutch, 1632-75) is based on the Allegory of Painting. It depicts an artist painting a female subject in his studio.
• 'Allegory of Painting' (1765) and 'Allegory of Music' (1764) by Francois Boucher (French, 1703-70).
• 'The Voyage of Life' (1840) series by Thomas Cole (America, 1801-48) is an Allegory on four stages of human life. The paintings, named 'Childhood,' 'Youth,' 'Manhood,' and 'Old Age' depict a voyager travelling in a boat on the River of Life along with a guardian angel.
• 'The Blind Girl' (1856) by John Everett Millais (England, 1829-96) depicts two female beggars. It is an Allegory of the Senses, contrasting the experiences of the blind and sighted sisters.

Conclusion
As a form of rhetoric, the Allegorical stream was a medium to persuade the audience in Classical times. Modern audience does not much relate to these themes due to the absence of such analogies in the contemporary culture. Although some contemporary artists have continued to create work in this genre, their ideology however centers on 'pure aesthetics.' For them the artwork is more important than its associated visual rhetoric.

Annette Labedzki received her BFA at the Emily Carr College of Art and Design in Vancouver, B.C. Canada. She has more than 25 years experience. She is the founder and developer of an online art gallery featuring original art from all over the world. Please visit the website at http://www.Labedzki-Art.com It is a great site for art collectors to buy original art. Artists can join for free and their image upload is unlimited.

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Art Collecting Tips

Just because you have money doesn’t mean you have to spend it. In art collecting it can actually be a disadvantage to be flush with cash, at least when you’re a beginner. I say this because it’s harder to resist the temptation to purchase art when you have money. Even if you’re a financially disciplined person, art can play on your emotions and you can find yourself spending more freely than you ever have before. Take the time to learn about the kind of art you want to collect. Unbelievable deals don’t come around often, and they rarely come to beginning collectors. There will always be quality art to purchase. The best thing for you to do is take your time and learn, learn, learn about the artists or category of art you want to buy. When you feel that you’re ready to take the plunge and buy a piece of art, be sure to learn as much about the artist as you can. Especially examine the artist’s auction records if there are any. Auction records are not definitive, but they are very helpful.

Narrow down your collecting interest as much as you possibly can. You can like all kinds of art, but it will serve your best interests to narrow down the scope of your art collecting interests as much as possible. The more you narrow down your collecting interest, the more of an expert you’re likely to become in that particular area. One of the greatest joys of collecting art is learning so much about an artist that you feel almost like you know him, or studying the period of history in which the art was developed. The more this is done, the greater your appreciation of your collection will be, and your enthusiasm and knowledge will be evident when you show off your collection.

Yes, you should buy a piece of art because you love it, BUT take the financial aspect into consideration too. It has become a cliché in the art advice business to tell people that the best thing for them to do is buy the art that they love. This is good advice, but somehow hidden in that statement seems to be a subtle message to not take the financial aspect of the piece into consideration. I say buy the art that you love, but also make sure you’re not paying too much for it and consider your end game. I wouldn’t advise asking, “How much money can I make on this painting? Or How much will it appreciate?” Rather, just be sure that you can recoup your investment. Tragedies can happen, and sadly what people first consider selling to raise money is their art collection.

Buying work by a deceased artist is generally less financially risky than buying art by a contemporary artist. This is because the art market for a contemporary artist has not really been tested. Most deceased artists have some kind of record of sale on the secondary market, whether it be at an auction or a gallery. This record gives you an idea of what is an appropriate price to pay for a work by a certain artist.

Just because a painting is signed “T.C. Steele” doesn’t mean T.C. Steele actually signed it or even did the painting. What often happens is that a family member, often a wife or son or sister, signs an artist's paintings after he dies. If this is the case, it decreases the value of the painting. Of course, an "artist signed" painting could also be a forgery. I’ve seen plenty of paintings that bear the signature of an artist who clearly didn’t do the painting. An art appraiser can assist you in determining the authenticity of a signature or painting.

Just because a desirable artist did a painting doesn’t mean that the painting is desirable. Every artist had his good days and bad days. Some had more bad than good. Certain periods of an artist’s work are also more desirable than other periods. Also, if an artist is known for painting landscapes, a painting that he did of a cat is probably going to be much less desirable. The medium is also important in determining desirability. Overall, oil paintings tend to rank as most desirable; however, there are artists who work in all mediums but whose watercolors or prints are more in demand than their oil paintings.

There are a lot of great deals on eBay. There are also a lot of fakes, junk, inexperienced sellers and shippers, and hucksters. Ebay can be a great place to learn about art, but it's not usually where the best pieces by an artist appear. This is because the best pieces are usually brokered between dealers and their clients. Occasionally, such pieces make it onto eBay, but usually through live auctions. Ebay can also be a financially risky place to buy art. The number of fakes, questionable works, and bad paintings on eBay is quite high. Unless you are an expert in a particular category of art or on a particular artist, I’d avoid buying on eBay until you’re sure you know what you’re doing. Even then you can still make mistakes. (e.g. buying a print that was described by the seller as a painting, getting an excellent buy only to receive the item damaged because it was improperly packaged for shipping)

Most art dealers aren’t dishonest, but the dishonest ones have a radar for those who want to be quickly parted from their money. When buying a painting from a gallery or dealer, try to find out as much as possible about where the painting came from. Provenance enhances the value of a painting. Also, if the price seems to be out of line with similar pieces you’ve seen by the artist, ask the dealer how he came up with the price. He may have very sound reasons for the price difference (or you may not be familiar enough with the artist), but if he becomes defensive or combative, be suspicious.

Pricing art is an art. It’s also part science and speculation. Art is not a commodity. Therefore, there are significant variations in price, even among the works of one artist. It’s not unusual for an artist to have a high auction sale price of over a million dollars and a low one in the hundreds or low thousands. This happens for various reasons, usually related to size, medium, and period created. Always remember, any price can be put on a work of art, but there’s no saying it’s worth the tag price until it sells. Also keep in mind that pricing art is not formulaic. There are dealers out there who are intentionally trying to rip people off by making them overpay for art. But most dealers use all the knowledge they’ve spent considerable time acquiring; they research, they talk to other dealers, and then they come up with what they consider to be a fair market price for a piece.

Don’t be an art day trader. Unless you are an art dealer, I don’t advise buying paintings and quickly trading or selling them for something else. I have not met a collector yet who has not lost money doing this. And the collector usually ends up frustrating the art dealer he's dealing with in the process.

Chris Powers is the owner of Indiana Paintings, a company that buys, sells, and appraises art. His Web site can be found at http://www.indianapaintings.com.

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The Art of Starting a Campfire - For Cooking, Heat Or Telling Stories

One would think that starting a campfire is something that everyone knows how to do, this is not the case. Countless times in the past 4 years, I have seen everything from lighter fluid to kerosene used in vary dangerous ways. I even heard a man call to his wife "Honey, bring a cup of gasoline". I wish I were kidding, I got a blanket ready, just in case.

A common misconception is the need for lighter fluid or kerosene when starting a campfire. The method I was taught by a homeless man in Alaska is a very simple process, and one that rarely fails.

A helpful hint: It is always a good idea to carry dry wood in your vehicle, in case of rain or wet conditions. Kindling (small sticks, dried out grass) along with varying sizes of wood, bigger sticks to different sized pieces of split firewood. You will learn quickly that the small stuff is what matters the most, I did.

Know, building your fire

1. Start with a piece of either paper towel, sheet of paper or hand full of dried grass, I refer to these 3 items as "kindling". Form into a ball, lightly, and place in middle of fire pit.

2. Place the smallest twigs and sticks over and around the kindling, leaving an open area where it's easy to get a match to the inside.

3. Place slightly larger sticks over the smaller ones, making sure to leave space for air to reach the smallest twigs and kindling. Air flow is a big component of starting a fire, you want air to be able to move through the fire freely.

4. Now is the time to start your fire. Make sure you have more kindling and smaller pieces of wood near by, you will need them. With a match, lighter or starting device, start the kindling. You may have to blow on our use another match to insure kindling ignites.

5. Once the kindling ignites and the sticks begin to burn, you are in business. Keep adding small pieces of wood, making sure not to smother the fire until you get a decent flame. From there, start adding larger pieces, you will start to see a nice bed of red and orange coals.

6. With a nice bed of glowing coals and a decent flame, you can start adding the split firewood. With the split firewood giving off a nice flame, you can add an un-split log, make sure to keep throwing medium sized pieces (around and under the log) to keep the log burning.

And finally: I have what I call, "a stick of many uses" that I use to move things around in the fire pit. If the fire begins to die down, just start mixing things up. Turn the wood over, readjust, it's as simple as that, just be sure to use Your stick of many uses.

For the past 5 years my wife and I have been camping during the summer months and have learned a great deal on how to do it safely. Our biggest fear while camping isn't the Bear or Mountain Lions, It's some of the unique ways we have seen other campers starting fires. It is no joke when I tell you that I sometimes wait in the wing with a blanket if things go wrong. The phrase that sticks in my mind is "Honey, get me a cup of gas". We heard that one while camping outside of Rifle, Colorado.

I thought it would be a good idea to give people a sure fire method of building a fire. If you follow the instruction, you will always get a fire going.

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