22. Summary
What is Art? This is a question often asked, especially nowadays when artists provoke with works of art apparently with very little in common with traditional works of art. They are not what the art connoisseurs expect them to be: beautiful and sublime nor do they enact in a universe of their own. They often imply political and ideological statements.
The art experts do not offer a proper answer to this question. Some of them cut the Gordian knot by maintaining that art is what theorists of art at any time accept as art. But this is not a theory, only a pragmatic solution which often functions in practical life.
Most theories about visual art leave us with a number of unsolved problems. They tend to focus on aspects of art of little interest for the practitioners of art and the general audience. Accordingly, it is tempting to look for another approach to the elusive concept of art.
Cognitive scientists such as George Lakoff and Mark Johnson claim that the mental activity of the human mind originates in the body of man. They are supported by the findings of various branches of science Thanks to the creative mind of man, basic bodily experiences common to all human beings, so called basic level categories, have gradually been transposed to more abstract spheres by means of metaphors and metonyms. However, the human mind places limits to the capacity of men to conceptualize our world. Thus we have to reject the idea of objective concepts as independent from the human mind.
The cognitive scientist focuses upon the oral language. But thinking by means of objects which can be perceived by the retina is more fundamental than the language. Basic level concepts such as in front of/behind, up/down, large/small, male/female, child/grown up, balance/lack of balance are the original way of perceiving the world. Visual thinking is right in the middle of cognitive science.
Creative visual thinking is more than the outcome of the so called eternal quest for beauty as supposed by the traditional aesthetic theory. We have reason to believe that creative handling of visual elements has a far more important purpose: that of suggesting concepts fit to think with and act by.
A common feature of all artifacts of the kind we consider works of art, the cave paintings of Spain and France, the patterns of primitive tribes of Africa and the Native Americans, but also classic art, modernistic art, contemporary art, seems to be a quest for order, that is, a search for concepts fit for grasping and incorporation the world into the human mind.
From this point of view, we may try to consider visual art a game or play with concepts which are put at stake in the game, enhanced and blended into new concepts. Playing with concepts is an option accessible to all human beings, aboriginals and modern man, children playing parents and kids, people telling jokes, people decorating their houses and gardens and, of course, artists creating works of art, conscious about their doings.
The game metaphor stresses the fact that the pieces of the game should not be taken too literarily. For the audience, it is often hard to understand that pieces with unmistakable similarity with other objects should not be considered utensils, placed in improper surroundings. The fact is that these kinds of objects do not perform in the role of trivial reality only. They perform as conceptual pieces of game in the work of art.
The traditional theory states that art acts in a universe of its own. So does the game of art. However, the artist normally intends to transgress the limits of the game. He or she often considers a part of reality a proper subject for the art game. When we investigate works of art, we notice that artists utilize the significations created to investigate aspects of reality. Commitment in the problems of human life without any doubt has been motivating for the artists of the past, including the cave painters, and still is.
The examples of this book prove how artists, randomly selected, have been working on the art projects. Their works have been constructed as visual games of art, created in order to offer hypotheses about aspects of reality.
We have learned about Édouard Manet´s proposal to reject the theatrical representation of reality, to which his contemporaries adhered, to the benefit of representation based upon sensual reality. We have investigated Henri Matisse´s relationship to sensual reality and his efforts to transform his experience to a more objective sensual reality. We have been confronted with Diego Rivera´s efforts to utilize the spectrum of visual art forms, prehistoric art, classical art, modern art in order to promote national and social freedom, and Claes Oldenburg´s ambivalent relationship to consumer´s society. We have studied Asger Jorn´s attempt to focus on the importance of a pre-lingual reality, and Barnett Newman with his focus on the importance of a metaphysical reality.
This book has concentrated upon the quality of art as seen from the point of view of the artist and the spectator, viewing the game of art as a conceptual game for the benefit of themselves, and the work of art as a personal project for the artist and the spectator.
Respecting even this bounded perspective, the reader my wonder how widely differing working methods and attitudes toward art projects deserve the common denomination of Visual Art. The artists themselves are wondering, too. Artists working according to a certain method and strategy are inclined to maintain that methods and attitudes used by some of their colleagues do not deserve to be called proper art.
Let us conclude that the concept of visual art – like the concepts politics and science – incorporates a variety of ideals of strategy.
Nevertheless there seem to be a common general method used by artists:
The construction of a consistent game of significance, created with the purpose of generating a singular space for reflection and inspiration, sharpening perception, providing the player with insight into aspects of life, influencing our ability to think and act, thus a vital part of our social world.