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`Growing up, many of us learned about the famous artistic work “Mona Lisa,” or the geniuses who constructed the masterpieces, such as Da Vinci or Picasso.
These fixtures of art are the building blocks upon which we have based and developed the language of art. If I brought Picasso or Da Vinci back to life, one has to wonder if they would be ashamed to have their works of art displayed amongst these modern works of art.
Has art lost its identity in the struggle to stay afloat in a world where businesses have forgotten about each other, and have instead focused on trying to ‘one up’ their own product?
We have a few examples on our own campus, where students might find themselves stopping and wondering why they do not pursue the career of an artist, for indeed there appears to be no prerequisite of talent any more.
“The Rock Cage” is a popular source of humor on campus primarily because no one on campus knows the origins or purpose of this “Rock Cage.”
The “Rock Cage” is located at the edge of the Quad, and is simply a big metal cage with rocks filling the middle. Fortunately for the students not all is lost! There is an expertly placed peephole through the middle of the rock pile in case one would like to compare the appearance of the rocks in the middle to the ones on top of the pile.
Someone might even think that this contraption’s use is as a collection bin of sorts for rocks taken off the Quad, to save students from tripping on them.
Unfortunately, you will have to toss the rocks in another field someone else is using due to the cage being blocked off at the top.
Fear not though, because the artist specifically selected those rocks for his masterpiece, and it is understandable he would not want his message misconstrued with rocks from anywhere.
Another anomaly on campus is the “Bronze Mystery” between Gordinier Hall and Harbold Hall.
An imaginative mind might come to the conclusion that this mystery resembles a piece of a plane wing that crashed and was left in the same spot to rust for the past five hundred years. A logical mind might never know what to think of this “Bronze Mystery.” I know that I can come up with at least a few positive comments to take with me after studying this object for a while.
For one, even if it has no purpose at least the object is fairly symmetrical. Secondly, the layer of rust is evenly coated all along the object to not take away from the “junkyard feel.” Lastly, it is perfectly placed in the middle of the construction zone to give the workers something enjoyable to look at for the next five years of construction.
This last conundrum falls more under the “Architectural Art” description.
There have been many a confused face I have seen as the student rushes to the bathroom and opens the door only to see another door.
This would seem to make sense if there were a piece of art hanging in between the doors, or even a window if you wanted to have an enjoyable view on your journey to the bathroom. Unfortunately, it is just a blank passageway to another door.
Luckily, there does seem to be a hint of a purpose to this gaffe. If you get the chance to be entering the bathroom as someone else is leaving, it presents an opportunity to potentially meet a friend in these close quarters.
From these examples, I believe artists around the world need to stop trying to do the “most different masterpiece,” and focus again on raising the bar on the quality of work allowed to be graced with the title of “Art.”
Firstly, this writer is horrible! At the end of the first paragraph, he has already made an error by placing the names of great masters where the names of masterpieces should be… Da Vinci and Picasso are not masterpieces. Secondly, this writer obviously threw this article together last minute without doing any kind of research whatsoever. I’d hope that writers are expected to do a significant amount of research about the topics they are discussing before being so opinionated. I mean, this is the opinion column and nothing frustrates me more than an ignorant (in the webster dictionary’s sense of the word) person with an opinion. Did you speak with the artists of the works you are discussing? Did they tell you they were trying to create “the most different masterpiece?” I bet they didn’t. Because, they weren’t.
A lot of amazing artists come out of Millersville’s Art program. Our Art Education students score higher on their Praxis exams than any other state school because our professors saturate studio classes with critiques/critical analyses. Also, writer- have you ever heard of sculpture? It is an accredited form of Art. It’s difficult to understand, I’m sure. And, not everything must be 2D (a painting, a drawing, collage, etc).
“We have a few examples on our own campus, where students might find themselves stopping and wondering why they do not pursue the career of an artist, for indeed there appears to be no prerequisite of talent any more.” Just because you don’t have a clue doesn’t mean that the artwork around campus isn’t Art and the Art students are talentless. I’m an Art student. I’ve been published in major publications such as Art Jewelry Magazine and hardback books from LarkBooks Publishing Co. My fellow Art major friend owns a very successful gallery downtown. Another fellow Art student runs a successful business through Etsy.com and rakes it innnn!!!
Oh well, I guess this means we are “no-talent-ass-clowns”.
Not that I agree completely with the writer, but he does make a good point. I have seen some modern “art” which is basically a circle with a white background, or a jumble of lines that make no sense.
The rock cage is another example of supposed art. So someone took a bunch of rocks, tossed them in a wire cage, and called it art? You are telling me if I came up to you with a bunch of m&m’s in a pizza box and called it art, you wouldn’t give me a strange look?
Just take into consideration what the guy is saying. Just because you are an art major doesn’t mean you have to jump all over him about disliking modern art. I don’t like it either, mainly because it seems like anything could be modern art. A twisted piece of metal – art! Intersecting lines – masterpiece! Sorry, just seems a little subjective.
Not to say modern artists are all bad, just the ones who show not talent in their works. Heck, I could be a modern artist if I could just find random stuff to glue together.
So since no one else seemed to bring this up…I actually happen to know what the purpose of the rock cage was, and it WASN’T modern art.
Before the parking lot was built in between Lenhart and Burrows, there was a grouping of trees that made an interesting shape: a heart. The cage was built so that when you looked straight through the center-in the “hole”-you could see the heart formation that the trees made. Unfortunately, the trees were cut down when the parking lot was made, so now the cage really has no purpose. Many people just assume that it is supposed to be modern art when it is not. Check your facts.
So you are going to tell me that a cage full of rocks is not themed in a modern art fashion? I knew why the cage was there, just to fill you in. But if the creator didn’t want to take a modern art approach, why not just make a wooden frame you could look through, or a metal box, instead of a cage full or rocks? The answer – the cage of rocks was a modern art-themed piece that also showed you the heart trees.
P.S. Did you like my box of M & M’s idea? Cause I REALLY want to do it. Maybe I can make a hole in the box, and when you look through it you see the library. hmmmmm
If I were the university I would probably cover up the facts about what the rock cage is too. It displays the campus’s stupidity in placing a window to see the trees through, and then demolishing the trees. It shows a serious lack of forethought on their parts. It would seem that the cage of rocks is an interesting selection to view the trees through as opposed to the wooden frame or metal box suggested in T’s comment above. I believe that because they chose to put a cage of rocks there that it is modern art then.
What are these publications “Art Jewelry Magazine” and unnamed books by Larkbooks Publishing Co.?!? These sound made up to me. I thinks its interesting to note that New York Times has an article about modern art too http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/16/opinion/16dutton.html?scp=1&sq=modern%20art&st=Search. I mean art will still make money as long as there are baffoons out there to buy anything you tell them is art