I would say that
representation serves as a very essential function when it comes to artwork. In
my experience people that discuss art rarely talk about the artwork itself. It
seems much of the appreciation for art is centered on the meanings and history
represented by artworks. For example, there is an old Greek statue (see figure
below) called Doryphoros that is considered legendary in the world of art
history. It is a simple statue of a man which if one looks at can see that it
is not a perfect representation of an actual human. At the time; however, it
was a piece that had achieved more than any other sculpture had, and so it has
come to be admired by many artisans and art historians due to the legacy it
began. I am sure that millions of statues like this one have been produced
which have better quality and possibly more aesthetic value; however, people
value the older statue not for the artwork itself but because of what it
represents: the onset of a revolutionary style.
I think that
today’s modern art works in the same way. People value art based on what the
art can represent. There are many who are fans of da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa” and
consider it to be a masterpiece which demonstrates the artist’s talent and
skill. Now let’s say a no-name artist and da Vinci both painted an identical
bowl of fruit (and perhaps let us say da Vinci copied the no-name artist’s
painting if we assume he is/was the better artist). Next we gather two groups
of people to compare the two paintings; however, in one group we do not say who
paints what and in the other we do. Chances are that the first group will find
it hard to distinguish between the two paintings while the majority of the
second group will call da Vinci’s painting superior. This is not truly because
they value da Vinci’s artwork more but because they value da Vinci’s skill
which in a sense is what his painting of the fruit represents.
Artwork is not
merely valued in and of itself. Most if not all works have something that it
represents even if the artist themselves have no such purpose. In a sense what
art represents is highly subjective in that individual people attach personal
meaning onto works of art. When couples hear a song during a critical point of
their relationship that song becomes a representation of their romance. Parents
can truly feel that the macaroni art of their child is the most beautiful thing
in the universe because that piece of art almost represents the child itself. Humans
cannot help but associate art with more or less unrelated events and objects.
This; however, may not be true for who we deem are professionals. Elite
painters, musicians, and all other people we would call artists may not be as
reliant on representation and may be more likely to value a work of art for
itself; but even they will occasionally (and maybe frequently) find some value
in their own works which represents something more than what it is.
Figure 1- “Doryphoros” by Polykleitos
