Author Archives: Dilora Kabilova

Ways of Seeing

Our brain helps us perceive the world around us. In the same way, our eyes are a kind of corridor connecting our brain with the outside world. However, according to the video The Way of Vision, episode 1, Berger claims that many factors influence the perception of what we see.

Art is important for each of us because it helps us to see and feel the time in which the work was created. In any case, each of us sees the same picture in different ways, and this, as the author states, may depend on different personal views, culture, gender, or external influences.

According to Berger, with the advent of the camera, many works of art have become available in any format, anywhere and for various purposes. Also, our perceptions of works of art exhibited in museums differ from their reproductions published in books or broadcast on screens. Through the approach of the camera to various places of the whole image, we can see a lot of small details bearing a completely different meaning. Berger says reproductions are the form of information. Moreover, art as a whole can be considered as documented moments of individual events of different eras. At the same time, creating a work, the artist experiences a range of emotions that he shares with us through artworks.

Berger also states that paintings can talk to the viewer and can also be still, creating silence. There are paintings that show silence, but when interacting with different sounds, the canvas begins to radiate a sound mood, conveying a completely different picture to the viewer. I believe that this changing perspective of the visibility and perception of art is directly related to our brain. Therefore, thanks to our consciousness, we can see and create the beauty of art.

“How Art Can Help You Analyze”

After watching three videos about important aspects of art, my attention was drawn to Amy Herman’s video “How Art Can Help You Analyze”. I agree with the author of this video that art is a great tool in developing visual observation skills. Amy Herman helps to develop these abilities to people of various professions in which it is necessary to be able to see hidden details. For instance, she is a mentor for police officers, doctors, and nurses.

Let’s go back to the video and review the content and briefly try to evaluate how this video meets the standards of intellectual quality. According to an article proposed by Professor Fess, “Intellectual Standards for Quality”, there are nine universal intellectual standards that use in verifying the quality of reasoning. This list of judgments includes elements such as clarity, precision, accuracy, depth, breadth, logic, significance, relevance, and fairness.  It sounds intimidating, but these judgments work as a catalyst for critical thinking.

Straightaway, I would like to highlight three elements of the intellectual standards of quality; significance, depth, and relevance. Important to realize, the main task of the video to show the significance of art in everyday life. In other words, Herman described how art helps to master the skill of visual observation. The author gave a number of examples that it is necessary to change the perspective of thinking in order to see a more detailed picture of what happened in the past or to prevent emerging problems.

The next aspect of intelligent quality standards is the depth of thinking. There is one inexplicable moment in art: the artist hides a deep meaning in his works, and the viewer always tries to find this meaning. Perhaps this is an artist’s game with the viewer. As an illustration, in the video, the author tried to help the audience feel the depth of the painting by Rene Magritte, “Transformed Time”. Herman was able to influence the audience and directed their thoughts in a completely different direction, listing the obvious details, asking the simplest questions and eliminating the apparent inconsistencies.

The last element is relevance. The first thing to remember, art surrounds us everywhere. Certainly, art will always be relevant at all times. Herman persuades the audience that art helps to develop relevant skills which could be used in the real world citing as an example the doctor’s ability to recognize a disease by visual signals.

In conclusion, I would like to add a little rhetoric about art. In order to quench our thirst, we need to find a suitable source of water. In the world of art, there are many sources, just find the right one and get inspired.

Why Art Matters?

Art appeared with the advent of man on earth. History knows many examples of prehistoric artefacts such as hunting objects made of stone or animal bones, a variety of painted pottery, and cave painting. Thus, art is a document of the era, reflecting human thoughts, hopes and a generation that transmits ideas and experience to the next generation. However, for some, art is pleasure, for others, it is self-expression. Of course, this is partly true, but art is more than experience, art reflects and engenders life.

We can say that the human brain is a work of art by nature. Since looking with our eyes, we see with the brain, while listening with our ears, we hear with the brain and so on throughout the entire human sensory system. Accordingly, the brain helps us perceive and create art. Nevertheless, the brain must be educated to catch the meaning in Kazimir Malevich’s Black and Red Squares or to try to feel the whole spectrum of Beethoven’s experiences in the Moonlight Sonata. Consequently, in the hope to understand the world in which we live, it is necessary to consider the history of art as a continuous process of life, and not as a set of random pictures, sounds and objects.

Opening the world of art, we gain the ability to see, perceive and hear the world through works created by people. Therefore, knowledge in the field of art helps to think outside the box to find innovative solutions. Equally, it is an opportunity to see familiar things outside the material world. Moreover, art teaches tolerance, mutual understanding and empathy. Accordingly, art is certainly a tool for the harmonious development of personality.