Ерус Е.С. All About Arts. Visual Art

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Two sponsors, including the Leeds University students' union, which gave

a grant of £1,126, said they had been misled by the students. They claimed that

the stunt gave art a bad name and demanded their money back. But the 13

students said their holiday -when they swam, sunbathed and visited nightclubs -

was designed 'to challenge people's perception of art' and to make people

discuss whether there was any limit to what could be described as art. One of

the students. Emma Robertson, said: 'This is leisure as art. It is art and it was an

exhibition. People have very set ideas about what art is and we are interested in

the media reaction because we want people to discuss what art is.' About 60

lecturers, local artists and fellow students invited to the first-night party for the

exhibition - enigmatically titled Going Places - were surprised when they

entered a gallery empty except for a large bowl of sangria, the sound of

flamenco music and a drama student dressed as an air hostess with a

megaphone.

As they stood around, uncertain what would happen next, they were

ushered on to a double-decker bus. driven to Leeds-Bradford airport and left in

a bar overlooking the arrivals area. A short time later, they saw the entire troupe

of laughing, sun-tanned, third-year students - who had used the money to buy

£185 flight-and-accommodation packages - march through Customs armed with

souvenirs. The two groups met, the stunt was explained and they all adjourned

to the bar again, running up a bill of £180. They spent a couple of hours

discussing the meaning of art before they were bussed back to Leeds city

centre.

The students' union, which said it had been led to believe that the art students

were mounting a more traditional exhibition, suffered a serious humour failure

yesterday. Ruth Wilkin, the union's communications officer, said: 'We have

asked for the money back. When we gave the money there was no mention of

any holidays. We have very limited resources and we are trying to raise

£20,000 for a minibus with access for the disabled. It is fairly outrageous and

pretty upsetting to see some of our students taking money for a holiday when it

should have been spent on a much worthier cause." Myles Dutton. who runs the

Dixon Bate art shop in Leeds, was one of several commercial sponsors who

gave more than £400 for what they thought was a conventional exhibition. He

said: 'I gave £50. It's not a lot but I feel I have been duped and 1 want my

money back.' A university spokesman declined to condemn the students and

said: 'It should be noted that on little more than £ 1,000 they managed to spend

a week in Spain, hire a space for the exhibition, hire the double-decker bus and

keep a tab behind the bar at the airport. They got a lot out of it.'

The Daily Telegraph

COMPREHENSION

Answer the questions:

1) How much were the art students given?

2) Where did they go with the money?

3) How did the students justify their trip?

4) What does the article mean by the 'students' union ... suffered a serious

humour failure'?

5) Does Myles Dutton want his money back because of the size of his

donation?

6) What was the university's reaction to the trip?

DISCUSSION

1. Give your opinion:

1. Do you think the students produced a piece of art with their holiday? Why,

why not?

2. How would you have felt had you been one I of the sponsors?

3. What do you think is the purpose of art?

4. What do you think is good and bad art?

5. Do you think art is necessary, or is it a luxury?

6. Do you think it is important that art pushes the boundaries of taste (see

ammunition box)? Why, why not?

7. Do you think art should be censored when it is too shocking? Why, why not?

8. Do you think some modern artists only produce works that arouse

controversy - thus increasing their fame?

What’s your attitude to the following facts? Do you consider these to be

works of art?

• The Turner Prize is Britain's most famous art prize and also provokes

controversy. The exhibition of finalists attracts crowds of 120.000. The 1999

exhibition contained an exhibit by Tracy Emin, the enfant terrible of the British

art world. It showed an unmade bed surrounded by champagne corks, used

condoms and soiled underwear

• New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani attempted to halt the exhibition

'Sensation: young British artists', on show at the Brooklyn Museum of Art, by

withdrawing its subsidy of $497,554. He was particularly shocked by the work

Holy Virgin Mary by Chris Ofili which is decorated with elephant dung and

pornographic images. Other work included Damien Hirst's dead shark floating

in a tank of formaldehyde and Mark Quinn's cast of a man's head made from his

own frozen blood

COMMUNICATION

A: In groups, imagine you are putting on an exhibition of the greatest

works of art in the world. You can choose whatever you want up to five

pieces.

В: The newspaper that published the article has asked for letters from its

readers to express their opinions on what the students did. Write in with

your opinion, and what you think should happen next.

READING 2

Graffiti: You call this art?

Read the texts and answer the questions:

Photograph a ‘Big mistake’

Dear Editor:

The Valley Times made a big mistake when it published the pictures of graffiti

last Saturday. Graffiti is illegal in Grandview. Graffiti is not art; it’s simply

vandalism that the public is forced to look at and taxpayers and homeowners

have to pay to remove. It is done by the self-centered people who don’t care

about anybody else’s rights. The only purpose of graffiti is for people to see it.

So, you really helped the vandals when you printed it in your 20,000 papers.

What a wonderful surprise for the criminal who calls himself an artist! He

couldn’t have bought that kind of publicity, but you gave it to him for free.

He’s probably only sorry that he can’t admit publicity that he did it because the

police would arrest him.

Gerald Kesner

Grandview Business owner’s Association

Saturday, September

11:00 a.m.

Graffiti Bus Tour Seminar 1: Writing Urban Space

This tour focuses on graffiti art of downtown Los Angeles, MacArthur Park,

and East L.A. Videos will be presented and will include Bon Bryan’s award-

winning film Graffiti Verité and ADOBE L.A.’s Mexopolis, as well as short

clips from Los Niños de Piru, Raul Velasquez’s Sabado Gigante, and others. At

Belmont Tunnel and other locations, L.A.’s graffiti artists featured in Bryan’s

video will discuss piece that are currently visible.

Graffiti: Art or Annoyance?

Jason Brando is an artist. His work is controversial – not because of its

subject but because of where he does it. Jason’s obsession is graffiti – a bold

modern form of expression. His graffiti art annoys many people because it is

very similar to ordinary graffiti that costs cities around the country $7 billion

annually in cleanup costs. The city of Harrison alone spends $200,000 a year to

rid its public spaces of graffiti. ‘One act of graffiti leads to more’, said Linda

Keller, executive director of Keep Harrison Beautiful, a civic group dedicated

to keeping the city attractive and clean. ‘It eventually destroys the community’.

Marking or painting someone else’s property without permission is against

the law. Do it and you have committed a crime. You may have to go to jail and

pay a heavy fine. Brando understands this because he and friends have gotten

into trouble with the police more than once. Now when he wants to paint, he

goes to a legal concrete wall – a wall that has been designated by the city for

use by graffiti artists. These walls are scarce in Harrison. Consequently, they

are covered with art. Brando must first erase the pictures on the wall with a

gallon of cheap paint. This erasure is called buffing out. When he is finished,

Brando starts painting. Some of his designs contain faces or objects, but most

are complicated combinations of letter. They are shaded and colored to look

three-dimensional and are quite large.

Brando, who signs his works ‘Jaser’, is considered one of Harrison’s best

graffiti artists. He works quickly, and he also works big. A typical design is 12-

by-7-feet and takes him three hours.

If he’s lucky, his works may last two or three days. ‘Graffiti is a temporary

art form. Other people destroy it. Some throw house paint on it or write their

names on it’, Brando said. ‘That’s why when I’m finished I photograph it. In a

few days the photograph is all I’ll have’.

People Just Don’t get Graffiti

Don Yaeger is one of the nine graffiti artists who have contributed to the

murals at the new Teen Center. Yeager recently talked about graffiti art with

one of our reporters.

Reporter: It seems that this art form has many different styles.

Yaeger: We all have our individual styles. But it’s not necessarily the art form,

it’s more the medium that’s important to us. You have freedom to use the

medium however you want to.

R.: Do you consider this an art form, even though the medium is most

important?

Y.: I don’t really consider anything an art form. To me, it’s all different

mediums. I’ve done all different things. I’ve done tattoos. I draw with pen and

ink. I paint with cans. I paint with brushes. I think of myself as an artist, but I

don’t want to be called a graffiti artist or a graphic designer. I work with

whatever I feel like at the moment.

R.: What do people misunderstand most about graffiti art?

Y.: Honestly, you can never understand it unless you step into our shoes and

do it. You just really can’t. Most people just don‘t get graffiti.

R.: But how are people supposed to react if they don’t have that experience and

they don’t like what they see?

Y.: That’s OK. Some people don’t like Michelangelo’s David. I’m not going to

try to convince them. That’s cool.

R.: But what about when that attitude becomes public policy? In cities like

Philadelphia, they have bus tours for graffiti art, but in Hillsboro some people

in power don’t seem to like this sort of thing and would rather see it go away.

Y.: That’s why, before I started to paint, I talked to people at city hall. Their

definition of graffiti art was ‘If it was done with permission, it is art. If not, it’s

graffiti’.

R.: But where does that leave the young person who wants to tag and does it on

public walls. Is that absolutely wrong?

Y.: It’s against the law. I’m not going to say it’s moral or immoral. It’s against

the law, and I respect that – that’s cool. But there’s a lot of things that I don’t

think should de against the law that are.

COMPREHENSION

Answer the following questions:

1. What mistake does the letter writer think the newspaper mad?

2. Why does the writer consider this a mistake?

3. What is the writer’s opinion of people who create graffiti?

4. Where and when will the tour take place?

5. What three things will the participants do on the tour?

1. What does Jason Brando think of graffiti?

2. What does Linda Keller think of graffiti?

3. Is creating graffiti illegal in Harrison?

4. Where can graffiti writers paint?

5. How long do most graffiti paintings stay up?

6. How does Brando keep his paintings?

1. What does Don Yaeger think is more important?

2. What other kinds of art has he done?

3. Does Yaeger paint legally or illegally?

4. Does he think that graffiti painting should be against the law?

DISCUSSION

1. What do Jason Brando and Don Yaeger have in common?

2. Is there a lot of graffiti in your own city? If so, what do people think of it? If

not, are there strict laws against it?

LISTENING 2

A Personal History of Graffiti

Listen to the speaker and answer the questions:

1. When did modern-day graffiti start?

2. Where did people first write graffiti?

3. Where did they go after that?

4. What does the speaker call the real graffiti?

5. When did graffiti end on the subways?

6. Why does the speaker say that people write graffiti?

7. How does the speaker see art?

COMMUNICATION

What can governments do to stop young people from writing graffiti?

Choose the best responses to graffiti you think a government should make.

Suggest your own measure.

 place restrictions on the sale of aerosol paint

 set heavy fines and possible time in jail for offenders

 make graffiti writers wash off their work

 ignore the problem

 give awards to people who report graffiti writers

 educate children about why graffiti is bad

 provide special walls for graffiti artists

 paint all government buildings with special washable paint

VIDEO

Graffiti Gallery

Before watching

Answer and discuss the following questions:

1. Have you ever written or painted on public property? If yes, why did you do

it? Did you get in trouble for it?

2. What kind of graffiti do you usually see (e.g.. drawings, political statements,

of foul language)?

3. What is the most memorable piece of graffiti you’ve ever seen? Describe it.

4. Look at the first 30 seconds of the video with the sound off. Can you guess

what is going on?

While watching

Read the statements below. Then watch the video once or twice. What are

some important ideas from the video? Check all that apply.

1. People have different opinions about graffiti as art.

2. Everyone feels that graffiti is art.

3. The exhibit in Milan is about the history of graffiti as street art.

4. The exhibit in Milan is about famous American street artist from the 1970s.

5. Most street artists are happy that they are finally getting recognition.

6. Some famous graffiti artists will be represented at the exhibit.

7. Many street artists feel that the art at the exhibit doesn’t represent them.

8. One piece was used for the Olimpics in 1984.

9. One piece at the exhibit will be used as the logo for the Olimpics in 2006.

After watching

1. Do you think it’s a good or a bad idea to show graffiti in an art gallery?

Explain.

2. Can you see the purpose of the graffiti? Explain.

READING 3

Read the text and comment on the words in bold:

"The only impossibility to the art – if we are to believe some art critics who

appear to have had little opportunity of observation – is that it can produce

art; this little treatise contends that the camera is only a tool in the same that

the brush is a tool, and one capable in the hands of an artist of conveying

thought, feeling, expressing individuality, and also the usual attributes of art in

their degree."

Henry Peach Robinson 1830-1901

It is a common belief that this photographic process is relatively new to

the world of art. Seldom do people realize that from the fifteenth century on,

artists were using optical devices to create their work. During the Rennaissance,

the desire for realism and a close depiction of nature and its beauty enticed the

Renaissance artists to use tools as well as pigments and brushes such as the

'camera obscura'. This device gave them the ability to reflect far away images

onto flat surfaces.

In 1839, the perception of reality was further revolutionized by the

invention of the Daguerreotype and the Calotype, these being the first two types

of photographic images. Photography became accepted in art because of its

assistance in supplying the growing middle class patronage, therefore fulfilling

their urge for immediate images and entertainment.

In the terms of "the Masters", the truest quest of art is to depict nature as

it truly exists. A photograph achieves this goal surpassing the efforts of all

other artistic mediums. Yet the question remains whether or not the

photographers themselves are true artists.

Another theory is that artists must contribute their personal spirit into

their creations. Could it be possible that a photographer using a mechanical

device, that creates the image, could impose their personal spirit into the

finished photograph?

Ernest Lacan, the French journalist once said, "photography is like a

mistress whom one cherishes and hides, about whom one speaks with joy but

does not want others to mention".

There are three views of photography commonly discussed in all realms

of art by critics, painters, and photographers pertaining to whether photography

is beneficial to art or whether it is art at all. The first view is that photography is

not an art because it is produced with a mechanical device and by chemical and

physical phenomenon not by hand and inspiration. The second view is that

photographs would be useful to art but should not be equal in creativeness to

painting and drawing. The final theory is that because photography is so similar

to lithography and etching then it would be beneficial to the arts as well as

culture.

Photography has played a controversial but an important role in the arts

for the last 150 years. The question still remains whether photography is an art

or a new form of documentation seen by the eye instead of the mind.

COMPREHENSION

Answer the questions below:

1. How can you comment on the quote of Henry R. Robinson?

2. Why did the Renaissance artists start using tools and pigments?

3. Why was photography accepted as art in 1839?

4. What’s the main aim of art in terms of the ‘masters’?

5. How do you understand the words of Ernest Lacan?

6. According to the text, is photography beneficial to art?

Read the text and speak about the two aspects photography possesses:

Alain Briot

Photography is both an art and a science. Photography allows us to express

our feeling and emotions, but to do so we need to master the scientific part of

the medium. Unlike a painter, who is in direct contact with his subject and his

canvas, a photographer is separated from his subject by the camera and from his

"canvas" by computers and printers today and by darkroom equipment

previously.

The scientific aspects of photography can be both overwhelming and

fascinating, so much so that for some photographers photography comes to be

just that: a scientific process that they attempt to master over their lifetime.

However, to achieve mastery of the technical side of photography is to address

only one of the two aspects of photography. The result is often technically

excellent photographs that lack emotion and "seeing" qualities. In this regard, I

share the opinion of Ansel Adams who said, and I paraphrase, that there is

nothing more boring that a technically perfect rendering of a fuzzy visual

concept. In other words, an artistic photograph is created when technique is

used to express a vision and an emotion, not when technique is used for it's own

sake.

Countless articles are written daily about the many scientific aspects of

photography. From equipment reviews, to image processing techniques, to tips

on how to be a more efficient photographer, to stories about what works and

what doesn't, there is no shortage of material on the subject. Nothing wrong

with that. In fact, I have contributed my share of articles on this subject and I

will continue to do so. Again, the scientific aspect of photography is very

important and learning as much as you can about it is certainly worth your time

and efforts.

However, learning about the artistic aspect of photography is just as

important. Unfortunately, there is a much lesser amount of information on

photography as art. Far fewer essays are being written, far fewer discussions are

taking place, and far less information, help and tips are available. It is as if

photographers, for the most part, discovered how much they have to learn about

photographic science and, overwhelmed and enchanted by equipment and

technique, stopped there and looked no further. It may also be that some

photographers, or photographic instructors, are uncomfortable writing about

photography as art, or lack the practice and knowledge to do so.

The goal of this series is to remedy this situation in two ways: first, by

providing you with a source of help and information about the artistic aspect of

photography. Second, by making use of my personal background. I was trained

as a painter and artist at the Academie des Beaux Arts in Paris and later

discovered photography. From day one I approached photography as an art

form just as capable of expressing what I see and feel as any other artistic

medium. My training, combined with my practice and knowledge of many

artistic medium, provides me with a unique perspective on photography. For

example, I often draw comparisons between photography and other arts. I also

look at art from both a historical and a contemporary perspective. Finally, I

make my living selling fine art prints, writing about photography and art, and

teaching photography. In short, I am not just an observer. I am an active

practitioner, writer, teacher and student of both aspects of photography. I am

also an art collector, an enthusiastic admirer, and an occasional practitioner of

many other artistic medium.

When I decided to start this series I carefully considered what the contents

of each essay might be. The last thing I wanted to do was provide ineffective,

redundant or superficial information. I wanted to avoid what I perceived to be

the most obvious pitfalls of such a series, namely to talk of photography as if it

was art, without attempting to explain why it is, and later proceed to apply art

concepts to photography, as if there was a direct crossover between

photography and other arts.

At first I did not know how, or if, this could be done. It was only after

writing and publishing on my site several essays for a series I originally titled

Thoughts and Photographs that I felt confident to have found the proper format.

I later renamed this series Reflections on Photography and Art, a title that I

continue to find appropriate for this endeavor since this is after all a reflection,

albeitedly one based on years of experience.