Art and Culture

1.      Functions of Early Art: In this assignment folder is a link to a walk-through of the Lascaux Caves in France. Access the link and explore the cave paintings. There is also a link to background information on the cave site and I encourage you to review this as well. Then answer the following questions :

      a.      What were the cave artists trying to say?
Based on the art work inside the caves I would have to agree with earlier interpretations that the art is somehow tied into the ‘magic ‘of hunting. They were trying to show images of their hunting abilities and powers. It was depictions of their daily lives. The video of the Lascaux Caves in France show many images of animals that were hunted during that time. One scene in particular that makes me believe these images are tied into the hunting rituals of the people is the finding by Jacques Marsal. He found in the cave a scene where man is confronting a bison. Most of the figures within the cave are of animals such as bison, horses and cows. In particular we see the scenes of the ‘falling cow’.

b.      Why do you think that there were so many animals and not as many people in the paintings?

I think that the animals were a great part of the life of the hunters at the time. Possibly it was more significant to show images of the animals they had hunted as opposed to images of the hunters. There are over six thousand images of animals at Lascaux, yet there is one image of what seems to be a human figure. It is rare for most these sanctuaries to have many images of humans. I think that humans are not as represented simply because the life of the hunter revolved around the hunt, and the animals represent that. They depended on these animals for survival, therefore the animals were very important to the Paleolithic people.

c.       What can the paintings tell us about other aspects of the life of cave dwellers or Paleolithic people?

I believe the paintings tell us just how important hunting was to the cave dwellers. It gives us insight into their daily hunting rituals. The fact that there are not any paintings of plant species also tells us a lot. The paintings suggest that the animals like the horses, bison and cows were very important to the Paleolithic people.

d.      What difficulties did these early humans navigate in order to paint these pictures?

One major difficulty for the artists must have been the amount of space needed to actually do the paintings. Another factor would be that the artists would have to able to switch techniques when needed. Of course the limitations on tools also made it difficult for artist to make these images. They depended on the “mechanical properties and morphological characteristics of the wall”. They were in caves that are rough and they had to work around these difficulties. For this reason I think we find a lot of silhouettes of animals as opposed to full blown paintings.

     e.       Speculate as to three (3) possible functions of this art to early humans?

I think the art provided a lot to early humans. First I think it allowed the artists of the Paleolithic period to show the hunting abilities of the people. The paintings show the importance of the hunt for the Paleolithic people. It also shows the animals that they were interested in such as the bison and horses. The people of the time were able to see and learn from these paintings.  Second, I think the cave paintings allowed for the early humans to pass down through generations the importance of hunting and their ritualistic hunting methods. The paintings would forever remain the voice and the story of the Paleolithic people. Third I think the ability to do the paintings allowed early humans the ability to express emotions and express their culture in a sense.

2. Commonalities in Function: Compare the possible functions of the art from the Lascaux Caves to modern art, in all of its various forms. What are some commonalities in function you can find in how the art of early humans and modern humans?

I believe all artwork serves a purpose. Some have physical functions, social functions, and even political functions. The art at the Lascaux Caves definitely had social functions. The cave paintings portrayed the lifestyle of the Paleolithic people. The function of the cave paintings was to address the hunting process that was very important to the Paleolithic people. These cave paintings give us a glimpse into the hunting rituals of the Paleolithic people. The cave paintings also express the importance of the animals which were painted.
I think modern art also has many functions. I find that there are a lot of artists that portray social and political functions within their art work. I find artists are very talented in painting concepts around the social and political struggles of today. I read online that “Political art always carries a social function”. I agree with this statement. I think both the early humans and the modern human artists are trying to convey a message through their arts. The message may be different, but it generally is involving social function and politics.

3. Introduce Us to Your Favorite Art: Include in your post at least one image and/or a link (5 pts) to a video depicting an art form you would like to explore. This could be a specific type of art (i.e., ceramics, photography, etc.), music (classical, blues, grunge, etc.), performance art, or any other type of art you might want to present. Then answer the following questions:

I have always been interested in performance art. I like that there are many aspects to it. It was originally used to describe artists like poets, musicians and film makers. Today it encompasses a much larger amount of art forms like dance and media.
One of my favorite performance artists is Suzanne Lacey. I have included a link to some of her art pieces.

http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images?_adv_prop=image&fr=yfp-t-701-1&va=performance+artist+suzanne+lacy

       a.      For those who practice this form of artistic expression, what function does it serve?  What are they trying to communicate?

In performance art the audience is presented with a performance. The performance is sometimes scripted, and sometimes random. The main aspects of performance art include four “basic elements: time, space, the performer's body and a relationship between performer and audience”. Performance art can serve many functions depending on what the performance is about. I have seen a lot of performance art surrounding social and political concepts. I think that there can be messages in performance art regarding almost any idea. I think for those performing the art, they are trying to send a message through their poetry, music, dance or film. Most performance art I am interested in is done silently. It is the images and the performers that convey the message, and not the words. What they are trying to communicate is a message regarding a social, economical and political issue.

 b.      Is there a complete culture surrounding this art form, i.e., a language, a set of behaviors, form of dress, etc.? Describe and identify the features of this culture?

I would think that there are so many concepts and ways of doing performance art that there is not one specific culture that surrounds this art form. However through research I learned that ‘performance art has its roots in the cabaret performances of dada and the spectacles of the Surrealists, and grew up around the heyday of high Modernism’. Obviously this art form has been around for a while, although there have been some changes to it. In performance art the artist can be dressed in anything and their behaviors are not limited.

      c. How does this art form (and its culture) benefit society? Are there any detrimental affects?

I think that there are no real detrimental affects due to performance art. I realize that the messages that are portrayed can be shocking and offensive to some people, but not detrimental.
Performance Art definitely has its benefits to society. To begin, performance art has been around for many years, and its longevity provides room for growth. Although it originally was used to describe any live artistic events like poets, musicians and film makers. Throughout the years performance art has incorporated technological media into its art form. Another benefit of performance art is that it is live and has no rules or guidelines. ‘It is art because the artist says it is art’. In terms of benefiting society, performance art allows for people of society to voice or display their ideas and beliefs regarding political, economic, religious, and social views through the many different available avenues. I think performance art is entertaining and sometimes shocking, and it is able to send a message across.