Kianna Vargas

Term Paper
AMT 254
Often people view art as a frivolous activity that people use and
it is not seen as important, rather it is considered just entertainment.
For thousands of years, art has been used as a tool to communicate in
a literally and figuratively way. Language has never been universal, so
movement and drawings were imperative for beginning cultures and
societies to be able to communicate and express to each other. Once
language was established cultures that were rich with art, used it for
story telling, communication and expression of emotions, which is
often times used now. These skills have used creativity, problem
solving, and determination and have travelled through generations to
present times. Art encourages cognitive development through
expression and it benefits the artist and the viewer through
experience.
An artist creates their work with an intention. As stated above,
artists use their skill and talent for conveying emotion, ideas and
concepts. Music is a
different medium from painting, architecture different from drama, and
so
on. So different are they, that the value of art is an issue that has to be

investigated in a more detailed way in relation to each.1In Gordon

Grahams text he discusses art forms in relation to what different
benefits they bring to people. He discusses proposing the idea of four
different purposes of arts and suggests what cognitive significance it
brings. He thinks that people use art as pleasure and entertainment in
general, but there is more to art than just that. Similar to Graham, I
think people can use all art forms to learn and for therapeutic relief.
The outlet that art allows is extremely beneficial to the mind, not only
can it create a safe space for vulnerability, different art forms create
different benefits.
Music helps the composer create a feeling that vibrates inside them
and raises an emotion that another art form could not invoke for them.
For example, Idumea composed by Richard Bjella.2 The director of the
choir I was in was the composer of this song. Richard had us all sing
the song once through without his instruction. This song has a rich
harmonic quality that translates into the inevitable fate we all endure,
death. The song has a slow pulsing rhythm that makes one feel like
they are entering a doomed state. It also has several layers that create
a climax in the piece that resembles that climax of the story. Richard
explained to us what the song was about and what he wanted to
1 Graham, Gordan. "Music and Sonic Art." In Philosophy of The Arts, 76. 3rd ed. London
and New York: Routledge, 2005.

2 Idumea composed by Richard Bjella https://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=FsNCOLed7So

accomplish in writing this piece. He wanted the dooming effect. He

desired the audience to feel this vibrating through their own beings
and wanted other people to understand how he was particularly
feeling. Because of having the advantage of working with the
composer of a piece, we got to aid the composer in communicating his
ideas and emotions. If I were to strictly read the words or to see the
illustrated, I am not sure the same overwhelming feeling would be able
to be effectively communicated that the composer so desperately
wanted others to understand.
Music uses vibrations that force the body to feel an emotion.
Because of this, music therapy is a therapeutic remedy that is used to
help people feel. It almost forces people to express their feelings
through the feeling of the song. The complexity of music is relatable to
complexity of human nature and the events and emotions that occur in
a life. It is similar in the sense that music has layers; it has a story line
and follows the trials and tribulations of the composer. Graham is
skeptical about how rich of emotions music is. If we try to specify the
emotions with which a piece of music can be filled, which it may arouse
or which it could express, the list turns out to be surprisingly short.
Music is said to be sad or happy (or some variation of these general
terms sombre and joyful, for instance). It
can also (as we noted) be exciting or haunting. Very few other
emotional

states or conditions can be ascribed to music without a measure of

absurdity
creeping into the discussion.

I disagree that there is a limitation on

emotions in a song. The emotional adjective made by a listener is

subjective and varies between listeners. If the list is short it is because
that is how to listener feels about that song. If it is one or two words,
the words vary in definition based on life experience per audience
member. For example, what someone might find somber, another may
feel traumatic or angry. Music can help a listener pin point the emotion
that they feel in a certain situation about something in particular to
their own life. This is why music therapy is important. It helps people
identify their emotions and to communicate them to other people.
Dance can illustrate a more visual stimulation for audience members of
what the artist is feeling. In Martha Grahams Lamentation, she uses a
nylon or silk fabric around her entire body to convey her emotion to
viewers.4 This piece is a visual aid for Graham to get her expression
across to audiences. Dancing in this tube brings on feelings of being
trapped in something bigger than her. She was expressing her feelings
of grief, being tossed and turned, and having her head covered in pity.
She wanted to show that grief isnt only sadness, but terror, a changing
3 Graham, Gordan. "Music and Sonic Art." In Philosophy of The Arts, 81. 3rd ed. London
and New York: Routledge, 2005.

4 Lamentation by Martha Graham https://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=xgf3xgbKYko

or attitude and quite literally shape. This active display of artwork and
emotion would not be the same in presented with some other form of
artwork. Dance captivated the process of her grief and is in constant
motion and almost grows. Music enacts composers stories through an
audio experience while dance tells the story through constant motion
and visual stimulation.
Graham argues that dance is not something to be watched it is only to
be participated in. performances, however, are to be engaged in,
not watched. From the point of view of the spectator, in fact, most
ballroom and Scottish country dancing is tedious. Dancing is something
to be caught up in.

I disagree, while yes, dance can be participated

in and made as an all-inclusive art form with artist and viewer, it is also
can be watched an arouse emotion like the Lamentation. No one would
be running up on stage to help participate in that particular piece.
However, something like line dances could be started by a performer,
and followed and participated in by viewers because it is made to be
collaborative. Not all dances are made to be caught up in sometimes
it is made to be watched and understood as an art form for an outside
view.
While visual art stimulates optically as well, it is unique in its own form
that is still images or concrete items that are much more complex in
5 Graham, Gordan. "The Performing Arts." In Philosophy of The Arts, 159. 3rd ed. London
and New York: Routledge, 2005.

one single frame, rather than several. This allows artists to

communicate a single emotion in a still instance. This can be more
difficult and harder for an artists to be able to show exactly what they
mean with one piece. However, visual art I think is the most personal
of artwork because it is so complex for viewers to understand without
intense analysis. Visual art allows the artist to portray their feelings
toward a certain subject but not necessarily need an audience to
understand it. The artists experience of creation is more significant
than the viewers experience. For example, Felix Gonzalez-Torres has
created several beaded curtains that are to explain the several
instances in his lifetime. He purposely titled all of his curtains
Untitled. It was only outside the closed quotation that he ventured
to instill a personal interjection--always in parenthesis. It was essential
to him that all works were open for changing interpretation, for
Gonzalez-Torres saw the possibility of change as the only form of
permanency or immortality... Perhaps without seeing the title, an
individual experiencing this work would not even think of blood. It is
essential to embrace the breath of content within this work--the nature
of place and ownership, issues of permanency, the transcendence of
light--but one can also not help but be affected by Gonzalez-Torres'
parenthetical insertion.

Here, Gonzalez-Torres discusses how

6 "Felix Gonzalez-Torres (1957-1996) | "Untitled" (Blood) | Christie's." Felix Gonzalez-Torres

(1957-1996) | "Untitled" (Blood) | Christie's. January 1, 2000. Accessed December 5, 2014.
http://www.christies.com/lotfinder/lot/felix-gonzalez-torres-untitled-1928675-details.aspx?
pos=16&intObjectID=1928675&sid=.

important his personal emotions were in all of his artworks and how he
wanted his viewers to experience and relate to it differently than he
did, he wanted it to be customized to his own life.
Even though Gonzalez-Torres doesnt want his artwork to viewers to
imitate his emotion, art creates a significant experience between
viewer and creator. An audience member or viewer goes through an
experience that is beneficial and long lasting when they view a piece or
performance. Many people going through extreme emotions such as
tragedy, grotesque, sublime feel like they do not have people to relate
with them and not everyone possesses skills to creatively express their
emotions and experiences. For someone to find a piece that displays
what they are trying to convey to others or even to themselves can
give the viewer a feeling of relief, belonging or even euphoria.
The experience between artist and viewer is what is most
important and cognitively beneficial. It is therapeutic for all involved.
Art is a human activity consisting in this, that one man consciously by
means of certain external signs, hands on to others feelings he has
lived through, and that others are infected by these feelings and also
experience them

Tolstoy discusses what he views at the value of

7 Tolstoy in Neill and Ridley, 1995 Graham, Gordan. "Art and Emotion."

In Philosophy of The Arts, 31-32. 3rd ed. London and New York: Routledge, 2005.

expressionism in art and I think it is a very accurate depiction of the

experience that occurs during a performance. For example, during Jimi
Hendrixs performance of the Star Spangled Banner he woke the
Woodstock music festival with familiar sounds with a twist that struck
the hearts of Hendrix and audience members.8 This rendition of the
National Anthem sent chills of war down the spines of spectators that
sent a message to all who heard it. The cover incorporated sounds
that simulated the front line of a war as well and the patriotic sounds of
our National Anthem that has held us so strong. This experience took
Hendrixs emotions toward the Vietnam War that was occurring at the
time and expressed it to an audience that felt experienced the tragic
and haunting feeling he was trying to convey to the listeners. It has
touched lives and I think it is the most powerful and expressive
rendition of the National Anthem ever played.
When thinking of arts philosophically, they should be divided because
their strengths and weaknesses are all different and they all bring a
different benefit to the table. Each art form brings entertainment,
feelings of pleasure or displeasure, and creates an experience for the
audience members or listeners. Collaboratively, they make you feel
something. But no art form is the same, they each differently allow the
artist communicate with a variety of forms of expression. This

8 Star Spangled Banner adapted by Jimi Hendrix

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjzZh6-h9fM

expressionism is therapeutic to the creator because it creates a field of

open communication of emotion that cannot be expressed through the
limitations and restrictions that language gives. It blurs the lines of
language barriers, lack of words, and clarifies the complexity of
emotion individually through each type of art form.