Responce to 2nd Articles

Big Ideas and Artmaking

                I enjoyed reading this article due to it being kind of a lecture or helpful information on the subject of the big ideas in art. The article had all these examples of big ideas that one uses in their art form. I liked the dreams and nightmares example for some reason. I supposed it would be a broad area to choose from, because everyone has many kinds of dreams. Unless the artist decides to focus on a particular reoccurring dream that doesn’t go away. That would be interesting and I suppose it would fall into a nightmare example. There was a differentiation about a big ideas, themes, and subject matter. An artist theme could be the big idea as well or it could be different. Now a subject matter is the topic while the big idea is the concept. The article talked about an artist named Jennifer Bartlett. Her subject matter or main focus was on gardens, but that was not her big idea. Her big idea is the exploration of the use of rules and systems. I remember something about the rules and how they are in place for a reason at times, and at times they are there to be bent or broken to achieve your big idea. I also, enjoyed the exercises at the end of the article that used creative thinking to illustrate some of the topics discussed.

Interpreting Connotations in Visual Cultures

                In this article the discussion was on interpretation of the connotation and denotation in artwork. An artist has a big picture in mind when creating the art piece. Using different ways to show images in the artwork, the artist makes the viewer think of ideas when viewing the work. In other words the viewer has an insight of cultural beliefs and ideas about what each piece would mean. Then the viewer puts it all together in a big picture and interprets the meaning. At least this is how I understood the point being. Another view of this visual understanding comes together when there are words and symbols present along with a picture or a photo. Looking at The Rolling Stone magazine one sees the Sexy Girls mentioning of Rock-N-Roll and the Dalai Lama. The article noted that it was obvious that codes were open to some and closed to others. This is because of culture, age, gender as well as being knowledgeable with current and past events. Some people know about Power Puff but not about Dalai Lama. Thus it is apparent to decode and interpret in a wide diversity of cultural backgrounds. On the other hand the artist or magazine, in this instance, is focusing on a particular cultural and age group. I have learned that the design of anything that is a product needs to grab someone’s attention. One thing that grabs our attention is sex. The other attention grabbers are different colors, and some phrases that a culture is familiar with. I believe that an artist does need to keep their audience in mind when they are making the art piece. Although in my opinion many artists do not do this, because they are just being creating I suppose.