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Caramen McDaniel
Wellington High School, Wellington Florida
Email:
Phone: (561)-307-5013
Caramen is a senior in high school who often balances her schedule between being an active member of the high school debate team and being in her high schools Pre-Veterinary Academy. During her free time, she maintains an Internship at Palm Beach Equine Clinic and keeps up to date on current events. Caramen first found interest in philosophy when reading Right and Reason for evidence on social contract and theory style arguments for debate. When not involved with school Caramen likes to curl up with her dogs and a good book often reading about history or adventure.
Open to Interpretation
To define art, we must first look to the principles behind who we are and what we as people enjoy because art is not just a painting or a picture but an idea, an intangible concept that we feel emotionally or physically because of who we are. Who we are, the thoughts and feelings, that make a person, a person are molded by the experiences, good or bad, that one endures. This simple aspect of the human brain allows us not only to change but it dictates to us what is our art, what we each individually find inspiring or beautiful. This unique sentient nature is what allows each person to make a judgement on what they think is beauty as humans we have the power to make widespread verbal connection and widespread appreciation of images and concepts. Yet it is this widespread availability that can often lead to a shift where people feel a desire to have social acceptance, leading to a societal interpretation of art, as to many adult’s art is something painted or sculpted in an ancient time, timelessly appreciated by the masses, something we are told to appreciate; to children the story is quite different as everything is art,because each individual moment is a chance for connection and a chance to make new pathways and new inspirations. These are the reasons Mike and Sarah can disagree so vehemently on the concept of what they see as art because they have lived their individual lives not the lives of each other. They have been capable of crafting opinions based off the places they grew up, their families, their schools and most of all the way they see things and how a color may make them feel or the memories that may be expressed through a visual representation created by others.
When we analyze art we often look to two unique aspects the interpretation of the person observingand the vision of those creating. Which leads to the concept of beauty being in the eye of the beholder however art is in the mind of the creator as each creator each artist has a vision for what they desire but care not if it is what the world has chosen to accept.
It is this art, the art that is not universally accepted at one point in time or another that in universally revolutionizing,as interpretation is the most complex and constantly shiftingdefinition that art as a whole must undertake as it has gone through revival after revival in more mediums than one can imagine. Throughout the most centuries from the most obvious and wide spread forms of art we had movements from classical, to renaissance, and all the way up to modern times the way we perceive art and beauty have changed through the interpretation of a widespread audience. In the 1600s when Edvard Munch sat down to paint the The Scream it was not considered to be a work of art and was nowhere near being considered a master piece but as times shifted the concepts of how people looked at things did as well leading to this being one of the most well known and well studied paintings for art students today.
Similar holds true for more than just physical, tangible works of art as art is more than just being expressed through colors on a page. Often one of the most appreciate art forms today is that of a musical creation as it is one of the most common mediums. One cannot escape from music and sounds as walking through store or even watching movies music is used to create an emotional response from the viewer. This however is not a new concept from classical music, to new revival jazz to even the complete reorganization of classical theory we know today as rock we see music permeate through to everyday life. Often good memories are associated with certain songs and places are associated with specific sounds. Yet the most appreciated, performed and recognized musicians of today were at one-point starving, unappreciated and often called wastes. People such asWagner were considered to write apocalyptic chord progressions that some in the time thought would ruin classical music, though today he is studied by music theorists for rewriting the concepts of tonality.It is the collaboration of the past and the present that make art.
It is this everlasting commitment between the two that change the views on different pieces. As people evolve so do tastes but even so many people look at art and view art with evolutionary lenses. Today most modern art is seen with bright colors and has evolved into abstract shapes with no exact design or parameters. This is something much more unique than what occurred during the renaissance era where things were typical rather than atypical. Rather than create new designs often the great masterpieces are portraits or city scenes. But it is not only an evolution of subject that has taken place but more so an evolution of colors. When painting began colors were more natural and earthy tonedas they were often created with natural materials as opposed to the bright colors people prefer today that were not made with natural materials but synthetically created dyes. This is the evolution of preference as people are attracted to that in which catches there eye and as people have had attention spans shorten we have seen artists have to take to a new path to continue to capture the attention of the observer.
Yet this is a highly traditional definition of what art is because each day we see people and experience things that make us change our definition of what art is. In this way two people can look at the same image or hear the same song and have two separate emotional responses. Even still in the modern age we see a newer revolution taking place as many may choose to define art in an even newer way through the digital age. As we have images online and we can edit through things such as Photoshopto perfect our visions for things that have surpassed what is naturally available. Rather than have to paint only what we see or what we can visualize we now have a whole world of ideas, inspiration and digital access to form a new type of art. The world is no longer limited to only the colors that can be created through the use of flower or beetles or even synthetic dyes but the entire spectrum of light can be utilized to lock in the color that best fits not only the moment but the emotion trying to be displayed.
This emotion is one of the most important concepts of what we as humans see as art. When we break down each day, each moment it is often grouped in colors with blue often when someone is down and red when someone is angry or even as simple as green being when they were outside. Now these everyday connections can have two effects of drawing people into images that one may see. When we see an image that connects to our mood through the colors or shadows within the picture one feels a stronger emotional connection through their interpretation; similarly, when one can connect with the message that they know the artist was trying to create through explanation they can feel a stronger reaction to the piece. This is what brings us back to the scenario at hand where Sara and Mike stand at their dilemma on what dictates the art in a museum and the answer will never be simple. As they both look at the same piece they can both appreciate the colors painted on the wall but they may not both see the art behind the message and while both are essential to appreciation they are not essential to art. As often art is not meant to always be places in a corner and stared at but meant to be placed in a way to evoke a conversation in the bigger picture.
When we analyze a subject such as the sticks in the corner we as humans may not just see sticks in a corner but we may see the beginning of mankind and how we built fire, it can be seen as a natural display of shelter but that is the beauty of art there is no one meaning. When someone creates a new piece of music there is no right answer on how it is supposed to make you feel. When a painter creates his masterpiece there is no one answer to why he chose to do each little thing but the bigger picture is supposed to be a part of the bigger picture, from a moment in time caught on canvas to an abstract design meant to evoke a conversation. When Mike asks “How can we tell?” the simple answer is there is no won way to tell because the whole point behind art is to be open to interpretation.