Reflection 1- Representation in Art

        I find representation a very essential function of artworks whether the representation is explicitly clear to the observer or not. I think that every piece of art whether it’s a splatter of paint on a canvas or a huge masterpiece refers to something outside of the artwork itself. For example, see Van Gogh’s “A Pair of Leather Clogs” below. The oil canvas itself represents or depicts a pair of leather shoes. The fact that the picture represents a pair of shoes is irrefutable; however, it can be argued that the canvas represents coming home after a long day of hard work or represents the fine detail present in a pair of clogs. Regardless of what the work is representing, it refers to something outside of itself, and what that reference is can change depending on the observer. The artist may have had a clear purpose for why she/he crafted a piece of artwork, but the onlooker seeing or experiencing the piece takes it and makes it whatever they want it to be. 

Some pieces are intentionally representative. For example, political propaganda posters were crafted and created to send a very specific message to an audience and reference a very certain event or idea. See the Russian WWII poster below. Wouldn't you say with confidence that this was crafted to send a very distinct message? However, even art that is started on a whim derives from something outside of itself. If I pick up a brush because I want to paint a picture, what I put on that canvas is linked to something outside of the paper and paint. The link could be to my mood. I’m feeling sad, so i’m going to use blues and grays to create a skyline or to create a big blue stain on a page, but that stain still represents how I’m feeling or what I was thinking. 

I think that artwork is representative by nature because it’s an extension of someone else or something else. Whether intentional or not, art encompasses the time period it was created in, the artist itself and the subject of the artwork whether it’s a big cloud of colors or a very clear object. One reason I think that artwork is so clearly representative is because of the human mind. I feel that it’s almost impossible to experience any art whether it is hearing a piece of music or seeing a sculpture or watching a play and not make any references to anything other than the piece itself. As humans, we understand and rationalize objects or experiences in our mind by connecting them to previous events or feelings or the fact that we have seen a pair of shoes before in our life, and that this particular painting looks like a pair of shoes, so therefor it represents a pair of shoes. 

        To put it simply, I think that some art was created with distinct representation in mind; whereas other pieces were made without a particular object or motif. However, whatever the purpose for a piece of artwork is, it can’t be void of representation because as humans, we attach meaning and create linkages to everything and artwork is subject to that.