Art

Art is beautiful. There are so many different ways art can be expressed. Art is a universal language that everyone can share and appreciate. All art can be seen as imitation. Since art imitates physical things, art is always a copy of something which brings us closer towards the illusion and not reality. “All visual art, regardless of when it was produced, is imitation. Some of it — and only some of it — strive for a likeness of the physical world. Some of it imitates the world of imagination inside the artist, and often is rejected because it is not familiar.” This quote describes the very imitation of art itself. All art that can be seen is imitation. There are different types of art that are created, but all still result in imitation. Artists may try and resemble something from the physical world, or from their own imagination, but something sparked that idea in their mind. Imitation needs to be broadly defined because it cannot be easily defined as one thing. Ultimately, art is something that is expressed through peoples’ imagination and put back into the world for others to appreciate.

There are different types of art and characteristics that come with it. Some of the key characteristics of classical, medieval, and Renaissance art vary greatly. Classical art has slightly different connotations. A classical work is a work of art. A painting or a sculpture, but also a novel or a poem, a play, film, or piece of music. Medieval art is from the fifteenth century to remind the faithful of the life and death of Jesus, Mary, the saints, and the disciples. And finally, Renaissance art, meaning “rebirth,” began in Italy in the fourteenth century. Renaissance art became a vast movement encompassing art, drama, music, and politics. “Though the amazing light dominates this picture, we must not suppose that the darkness is unimportant to the total effect; the artist uses it to enhance the quiet dram of his own self-portrait.” This expresses the fact that through each “category” of art, it is ultimately shown through his own perception and imagination.

Technology has a huge impact on everything in today’s day and age. We live in the era of technology and it has shown advancements in almost everything humans do, use, and appreciate, including art. “With the increasing popularity of photography since its invention in the nineteenth century, the roles of portrait painting and realistic landscape art were diminished.” This has proven the opposite as we have progressed in the technology era.

Janaro, R. P., & Altshuler, T. C. (2017). The art of being human: The humanities as a technique for living (11th ed.). Boston: Pearson.