Art has always been and will continue to be part of humanity. It is the source of information that brings us to the understanding of the intellectual evolution of man. In other words, art carries the message of human civilization. Art is seen as the doorway into human emotion. Conceptual or verbal discourse can transmit information very well, but it cannot dig into the feeling of the person saying them. They cannot tell how you feel. Psychology states that each of us is a whole person.
Rather than being just an intellect, every person is defined by the noun “I.” The ‘I’ makes you feel something special about yourself and that is how art affects a person too. Even though art has intellectual components, they do not come out clearly without the help of the emotional aspect of people. Art, therefore, in direct proportions, affects our sense of perceiving things and how to react to emotionally. As such, art has been viewed as a more powerful tool to convey information than concepts and words. As if that is not enough, art can train and control your emotions. Creativity is all about bringing out the inner person, different from what people can see on the outside.
People want art because it is essential, desirable, pleasant, and informative. It brings out a sense of pride in every person that comes across it. It has taken and money for archeologists and history reservists to dig out ancient art forms for future references. They use these ideas to determine what society was like in the past days. What we can see is certain richness in the art that cannot be avoided.
Ancient art was more focused and communal. Many of the images we see from ancient Egypt and Rome represent those specific societies. You can quickly tell an Egyptian sculpture from a Roman one because each had unique features that represented the stated culture. However, things have changed drastically, with the art of the 20th century being influenced by technology and generality. Anyone from any part of the world can create art, and not one will be much interested to know the social and geographical background of the artist. What we find today is corrupted artistic work that may have little to no value. That is why old paintings like the Monalisa have remained famous and highly valuable, whereas new ones easily get lost with the crowds.
However, we cannot deny the fact that art plays a significant role in human relations. It has everything to do with human emotions, and one can use it to bring out these emotions for many other reasons. There is an art in every significant area of human activity as an enhancement tool. People sell art as a commodity or proportional tool, making it an asset in the economic sphere. In politics, people use art to promote different agendas and support ideas. Art is an essential part of religion, too; it encourages the experiences of believers in specific religious orientations.
Art has a direct connection to truth, and this aspect is compared to the element of ‘art and religion.’ When people are studying religion and theology, their main focus is always on finding the truth. In the same manner, art is used to hide and reveal the truth about something. Plato, one of the most famous philosophers of all time, already tried to unmask what lies beneath art and reality. He, for instance, sorts to establish whether poetic fiction had any truth or can be seen as a lie. In recent years, many other scholars have worked on resolving this issue. What comes out clear is that there are many types of truth, and one has to state which one they are specifically referring to. Plato, for instance, was referring to the fact of correspondence. His idea is that art, as seen in most literature and poetry, should not be encouraged because the view of correspondence to reality is that such art is deceiving. Plato says it does not add any value to any human aspect.
However, there is the truth of disclosure, which many find very vital as well. It states that something that reveals the truth about something else is true. This, therefore, according to Cicero, means many, if not all, artworks are true. Even Plato might have sensed something like this. His comment on music as an art that reveals some truth about the world shows he cares about finding truth in all forms of art. Try listening to the pieces of famous composers like Bach, Mozart, and liturgical composers like Desprez, and perhaps you will see sense in this theory.
Art is also tied to our cognitive functions and knowledge. Looking at it in relation to aesthetic perception, one can easily say art affects the way we think and understand things. Consider symmetry and proportions, for instance, just like you find in geometry, mathematics, and physics. In other words, we can look at art just as art, with a sense of beauty, in which case we will be looking at how it is vital to humanity in general, just as other subjects. The nature and appreciation of art has been viewed as a significant reference for art integration with life. It acts as an enhancement for our sense of transcendence.
Conclusion
Many of the religious traditions we study today are based on what is drawn, written, or sculptured. Religious art has been used as a fundamental aspect or representing religious beliefs for many communities. And even today, some forms of art are directly associated with different faiths.
One of the important stories of art and religion is the ancient Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar, who ordered the contraction of a statue to be worshiped as a god. Today, art is still expressed the divine
, as seen in the case of Christian liturgical services. It is because art has a strong emotional impact. It drives people to act immediately and directly once we perceive the correct information. Art comes out both as a natural beauty capable of evoking our strongest desires and emotions. There are many sculptures and art regarded “holy” both in the Christian and Islamic realms of the world.
1046 Words
Mar 04, 2020
3 Pages
