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"Art is the product or process of deliberately arranging items (often with symbolic significance) in a way that influences and affects one or more of the senses, emotions, and intellect. It encompasses a diverse range of human activities, creations, and modes of expression, including music, literature, film, photography, sculpture, and paintings. The meaning of art is explored in a branch of philosophy known as aesthetics, and even disciplines such as history and psychology analyze its relationship with humans and generations. Traditionally, the term art was used to refer to any skill or mastery. This conception changed during the Romantic period, when art came to be seen as "a special faculty of the human mind to be classified with religion and science".[1] Generally, art is made with the intention of stimulating thoughts and emotions"
I'm gonna focus on domestic architecture because most ecclesiastical, government, public buildings, ect are undoubtedly are "art" and our home are ultimately the largest portion of America's built environment.
For consideration:
Here is a random modern home that could be anywhere in the country. Is it "art?"
You won't see it in the Louvre anytime soon, but I argue yes, it is art. It is trying to say: Normal, pleasant, middle-class people live here. It generates a feelling by just looking at it. The landscaping, colors and superflous shutters, even the halloween decorations come together to create that impression, just as artist's paints on canvas together to evoke emotion from the viewer.
So if you purchase a house, keep up the yard, decorate it, you are an artist.
My next question is: why are we satisfied with inferior art in this country? Why do we build identical cookie cutter houses dominated by garages? Why don't we care whether they are pleasantly porportioned and and made with ticky-tacky materials?
Because by and large we don't consider our regular buildings to be a type of art. I think this is why American built environments tend to look so ugly...
(edit) I realize this is right on the line between this and the Home forum; Here I get good thoughts from the "function" perspective, there from the "form" perspective. I put it in both places... mods please let it stay.
Whether it is art or not is up to individual opinion. Some people see Victorian, Gregorian and Tudor homes as a sign of craftsmanship. While I certainly appreciate that architecture my appreciation for it is for very different reasons than the individuals who built them.
Other people see buildings for a purely functional purpose only and really don't care if it is built in a square consisting of cinder blocks, round, or the shape of a UFO. The only thing they care about is that the ceiling over the bed doesn't leak when it rains, or that the wind doesn't blow all the paperwork off the desk in their office.
What people consider attractive varies too. Out of the three types of architecture I mentioned in the first paragraph, my favorite is Tudor. Overall, my favorite type of architecture in housing is the 20s through 30s "cottage" style homes with stucco exteriors wherein they blended various architectural elements into the exterior design. The designs are attractive, but not busy. The interiors have a touch of the Art Decco of that era. I've seen recent tract homes built to resemble mainly the Tudor with French "catslide" roofs coming off of one side. The houses themselves are attractive on an individual level, but when there are a whole total of five models in a tract of 350 homes, well, it just makes everything look the same.
I'm picky about ranch homes. Anything built after 1965 just looks functional to me. From this point on the majority of them look the same. Large garage in front and that thin stucco with a grainy texture. Prior to this many ranch homes had various types of siding which made each house look different from the one next door.
And of course there was the "modern" architecture. Most of those look like boxes with windows too me. I do like some of the eclectic googie and atomic architecture of that same era.
It's art in the same sense that fashion is art. Is an article of designer clothing art? How about a T-shirt? What if the designer clothing is actually a knockoff of piece of designer clothing, rather than an original? What if the T-shirt has an original piece of artwork on the front? Does it make a difference if the original artist is a world-renowned artist, or your 5 year old with some puff paint?
It's art in the same sense that fashion is art. Is an article of designer clothing art? How about a T-shirt? What if the designer clothing is actually a knockoff of piece of designer clothing, rather than an original? What if the T-shirt has an original piece of artwork on the front? Does it make a difference if the original artist is a world-renowned artist, or your 5 year old with some puff paint?
Fashion is a kind of art, but it's far more transient and temporary. The greatest works of art are supposed to last "forever"... or at least for a long time.
I would say a house is (at least in theory) supposed to last for a long time, and since it will be making it's statement for a while, a house should do it well.
But that does bring up an idea for discussion. Perhaps planned obsolescence does not give us the right motivation to build with asthetics in mind.
The house above, as you describe it, is just a canvas. It's what the people do to it that gives it personality, and makes it art.
But, there are houses that are built to be works of art. Whether you like the design or not, Frank Lloyd Wright's Falling Water doesn't need additional decorations to make a statement.
Please note, I am a huge fan of architecture in general.
I was also an art major.
For me, Art, in it's highest form, exists solely to enlighten, educate, and/or entertain us.
Very few buildings, commercial, or residential, reach that lofty plateau.
This doesn't mean I don't admire and respect architects! Quite the opposite. In fact, their job, to blend both the artistic/aesthetic with the functional/possible (think engineering) is HUGE. It's a tough blend of both art and science where few excel.
Fashion is a kind of art, but it's far more transient and temporary. The greatest works of art are supposed to last "forever"... or at least for a long time.
I would say a house is (at least in theory) supposed to last for a long time, and since it will be making it's statement for a while, a house should do it well.
But that does bring up an idea for discussion. Perhaps planned obsolescence does not give us the right motivation to build with asthetics in mind.
Either that or it is the planned obsolescence that is the problem. Fashion in architecture is a transient and temporary thing too--houses are basically built to last long enough to sell to the last buyer in the subdivision, and if they don't meet current fashions (driven of course by current transportation modes) they won't sell. Previous generations built in more permanent fashion because rapid mobility was less of an expectation--thus houses were built with longer lifespans in mind.
Also keep in mind that the customers of residential and commercial architecture vary: the customer who wears jeans and a T-shirt probably looks for different things in their residential architecture than the person who wears designer suits.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JR_C
But, there are houses that are built to be works of art. Whether you like the design or not, Frank Lloyd Wright's Falling Water doesn't need additional decorations to make a statement.
For me, Art, in it's highest form, exists solely to enlighten, educate, and/or entertain us.
I enjoy driving or walking around beautiful old neighborhoods and admiring the homes. I don't think I'm the only one that does such a thing just for the fun of it.
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