A person doesn’t need to be an artist or an art historian to enjoy and appreciate art. In museums and galleries, different people are attracted to different art pieces because these pieces talk in a unique way to individuals. There are a lot of reasons why a piece of art may resonate with one person and look totally dull and boring to someone else. One of the best ways to approach art and think about art is to analyse one’s personal responses to it and consider why the piece looks attractive or interesting.
A piece of art may have an impact on a viewer because of
its title, its role in the life of the artist, the time period in which it was created, and so on. Ultimately, all art and the definition of art is deeply subjective. American pop art icon Andy Warhol was one of the people to address the issue of the essence of art. Warhol believed that art is not about beauty or mastery of an artist, but instead, it’s about effective communication of feelings and ideas. Warhol thought that art was a form of language that allows people to communicate in a new way and on a new level.
It was Andy Warhol’s belief that the right way to judge a piece of art is not to consider technical performance or the abilities of the artists but instead consider the power with which the piece of art communicates a message and the influence of the message. To create art, artists use some physical materials. It may be paint, it may be crayons, or it could even be discarded rubbish. A physical material used to create art is known as a medium.
The oldest art medium is stone. Some early forms of art media include clay and paintings on rock walls. Later, humans started to carve sculptures out of marble, stone, wood, ivory, and many other materials. Some of these materials were expensive and rare, others were cheap and easy to get.
As humans invented new forms of technology, art media changed, too. Today, popular forms of art media include plastics, all kinds of metals, and various forms created with 3D printers. Thousands of years ago, people were using animal materials and plants to create art. Today, artists use oil paints, photographs and technology. New forms of media that have emerged fairly recently include digital photography, video, and computer-generated art.
Many artists today use technology not only to create art but also to share art and draw attention to what they are doing. For example, when famous British artist Banksy came to New York for an undercover residency, he was using a website to share his art with the world and to encourage followers to go off and find his latest works.