Completeness and Truth

Essay 2b

Completeness and Truth

Question: How is it possible that what the Egyptians considered "completeness" could be misinterpreted as crude, naive, or unrealistic and how does that affect the "truth" contained in their art?

Part One:

Summary: I approached this question as a two parter. The first about how crude the Egyptian completeness was. The second was how did that misinterpretation affect the "truth" that is revealed in the artwork. I found myself running in circles between the two questions; attempting to answer one independently of the other but I quickly jump to the opposite question.

Reason: I found that the question be more about answering the relation between truth and completeness.

Purpose: I found that I didn't quite change my look on Egypt but instead developed more of a liking for it, and expanding on my previous knowledge.

Impressions: I found that I couldn't quite answer one without answering the other but somehow relating the information back and forth was the biggest struggle. It seems as though it was easy to develop a tangent to something completely different but still greatly affected by completeness and truth.

Part Two:

Egyptian "completeness" could be misinterpreted as crude, naive, or unrealistic due to the conventions of the culture. Egyptian "completeness" is "knowing thyself." In knowing oneself the people of the Egyptian culture could be closer to their gods or heaven and earth. The conventions to represent those however, never changed for thousands of years ( Art History Stokstad and Cothren p.51). The people that aided in maintain the art : sculptors, scribes, mathematicians, artists, crafters, Priests, and laborers, had ways to were not lifelike but very conceptual that aided in the expression of ideas, events and people.

"The Greek historian Herodotus thought the Egyptians were the most religious people he had ever encountered"( Art History Stokstad and Cothren p.50). The Egyptians developed an incredibly elaborate polytheistic religion. Through their artwork they show the importance of being good and humble. This could be seen as naive because much of their artwork glorifies what potentially is happening past the world of the living for the dead individual. Much time was taken to glorify those that were deceased. Pharaohs or Priests built palaces for the previously reigning Pharaoh. It seemed as though more time was spent in glorifying the dead than the living.

Another way that seemed crude was the placement of their worldly objects in their tombs. The dead carried with them their possessions from the earthly realm ( Art History Stokstad and Cothren p.56). How naive the thinking and religion seems because the dead didn't physically carry with them the objects they had. The concept was more about the dead being comfortably at peace with the familiar things around them, whether it be furniture, pets, or treasures.

However this did not affect the "truth" that was portrayed in their artwork. Their conventions brought about a composition that was detracted from change. Their written and displayed records remained consistent and their development as a society progressed to a high degree. The construction of the pyramids for example required the most sophisticated mathematical calculations as well as astronomical calculations ( Art History Stokstad and Cothren p.57). To get to that time period required a greater knowledge.

Their "truth" never ends. Their society and culture continue to carry on and the people still find a "completeness". Their statues, and mummified bodies remain to this day. They continue the cycle in which their religion pertains. The Ka lives on everyday in the discoveries, research, scripture, symbols, hieroglyphics, and megalithic structures that reside in the Nile River area. Such as in this Video hulu.com the items that they found may look and appear insignificant, however their daily life, objects, drawings, and scripture are carried on.

Even though their "completeness" may seem naive the "truth" that history allows their identities to be remembered because of the things they did. Thousands of years later we still "complete" the lives of those who died by displaying and giving recognition to the sculpted pieces or artwork as well as the mummified bodies that carry on those spirits and the Ka, forever giving truth to their idea of completeness.

Them and Us

Essay 1a

Them and Us

Part 1;

Question: How artistically similar, or different, do you think prehistoric people were compared to modern man and, what singular force or need continues to drive the artistic needs and human expressions of the 21st century?

Summary: To approach the question I had to break it down into two parts. the first was the similarities or differences in Prehistoric artwork and modern artwork of the 21st century, then i had to figure out what drives artists to create their pieces in the 21st century and then another question arose; what if there isn't a singular force that drives us.

Reason: It's an interesting connection to our past as humans. It seems to be a question of "Has humanities thoughts and drives really evolved over the course of these Milena?"

Purpose: I created a purpose as soon as i read the question. It made me really think of the things that prehistoric man dealt with, and what we deal with today and how art reflects the things in our lives.

Direction: I didn't really change much of my thoughts, I had decided on a way to go about answering this question and I instantly went out to look for that information. I find human nature very interesting and creating ideas as to why humans think the way they do is very interesting.

Impressions: At first when I started looking into prehistoric man, the information really didn't aid in development of the things i was thinking of saying. It is rather difficult to get the exact meaning of why prehistoric man did what he or she did. Their drives seem to create as much curiosity as our drives today and i feel that's what the information reflects.

Part 2;

Artistic similarities are almost non-existent in the relationship between prehistoric man and modern man's artwork of the 21st century. Differences are clear in the comparison of artwork from the two time periods. Prehistoric man drew and depicted the natural world. It was of the seasonal animals and creatures around them. Typically they are depicted on the wall of caves and stones in the composite pose (Art History, Marilyn Stokstad, Michael Cothren p.9). The head of the animal is facing forward, while its eye and body is shown at a forward angle where the front of its body is seen, and the forward facing eye is.

http://www.laboriechic.com
A Cave Painting in Lascaux France
 

Depictions of the animals range from outlines to valued drawings, and reliefs. Each done in the composite pose. Although this was their only form of communication. The paintings displayed many things and one of the greatness interpretations of cave art comes from Steve Mithren. "Mithen argued that hoof prints, patterns of animal feces, and hide colorings were recorded and used as a text to teach novice hunters within a group about the seasonal appearance and behavior of the animals they hunted" (Art History, Marilyn Stokstad, Michael Cothren p.8). They were a tool used to give very vital information to other members of the group. Without the passing down of information to the next generation, the group would not be as successful in hunting and gathering. These paints were so important that the members returned to them over and over throughout many generations and over the course of many years (Art History, Marilyn Stokstad, Michael Cothren p.8). However it may have also been a place where Shamans may have connected to the spirit world.

http://www.bradshawfoundation.com
A Cave Painting in Lascaux France
 

 It was also theorized that people would venture to these places and shaman would have a spiritual connection with the beasts on the walls of the cave. This was believed to produce a good hunt (Art History, Marilyn Stokstad, Michael Cothren p.8). However compared with the 21st century, humans needs and understanding of the world as greatly changed. The prehistoric era was not art for art's sake, but ,"one of the fundamental elements of our development as a human species" (Art History, Marilyn Stokstad, Michael Cothren p.25). It was a way to communicate with others and to preserve the knowledge that the previous generations had acquired.

However the 21st centuries artwork is not quite like the prehistoric era. Modern day reasons to create art range from art's sake, to society issues. Many art works are given purpose to inform the viewer about events or ideas that the creator wants to share. Other art work forces the viewer to think about what it is they are looking it with no clear reason in the artwork itself. There are many styles to modern day artwork that aid in the thinking and imagination of the meaning of the piece. However somethings may not be intended as artwork. As defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary art is the conscious use of skill and creative imagination especially in the production of aesthetic objects (http://www.merriam-webster.com). Anything can be art, structures, paintings, drawings, architecture, works of nature, and any work of man.

www.sauer-thompson.com

Works are created everywhere. What drives this art though? Other humans do. It is the connection to other people, the sense of understanding and bonding through images. In a video of a french street artist named J.R. he describes the need to connect in our times.

http://www.youtube.com

 

I believe that modern man wants to connect, understand, and find common grounds with others. People do not want to be seen as a horrible society. They want people to know how they really are, they want people to understand their own truths and to find common truths amongst others. Art seems to be the best platform to show these truths. Great artists have taken huge lengths to demonstrate the commonality between people and how they truly are not as different as you may think. They focus on societies horrible truths.

Artwork of Street Artist "Bansky"

 

 

Artwork of Street Artist "Bansky"