There is no denying that art nowadays represents a radically different world. Tracing the evolution of art till nowadays, one can definitely notice the drastic transformation. The thing, called “modern art” is represented with a vast variety of intricate forms, shapes and lights, the conceptual destiny of which cannot be easily understood by non-proficient people. So the inference is that art is getting more and more isolated from an average person. Therefore, the underlying motivation for taking this course was to get acquainted with core principles of art and concepts relating to it to fill in this potential gap.
Within the course of the module we were firstly introduced to the overall theoretical review, encompassing the vocabulary of art. During this part of the study we were supposed to make distinct difference between the concepts “composition” and “design”; also clear out in what way “unity” and “variety” are construed in art and how important the co-existence and proportional correlation of the both concepts is; also the concept of “balance” (symmetrical and asymmetrical) were overwhelmingly clarified.
The module also involved overall acquaintance with the historic background of art, including the art of the Ancient Mediterranean Worlds, The Renaissance, Arts of Islam and of Africa, Arts of Asia: India, China, and Japan etc.
The part of the course I got mostly engaged and interested in dealt with the role of “variety” and “unity” in art. The new and startling thing was that the practical possibility of simultaneous objectifying both of those thing within one work of art. Making a work united means putting some principle or definite conceptual idea into the base of the work itself. So even when those lines and shapes seem so unreasonably scattered across the canvas, there is some definite idea uniting all of the items of the work. As for variety, it makes a work different from one hung up next to it. Variety is charged with the uniqueness of the work and the most veritable token of artistic mastership is finding the appropriate medium point on a spectrum, lying between the unity and variety of the work. So a thorough insight into this part of the study brought me to understanding the conceptual profoundness and deepness of art, notably modern one. Modern art is destined to trigger one’s intellectual activity and imagination.
At the last stage of the module our task was to apply the knowledge acquired through the course by making a review to some artist’s work introduced in the module. My choice is “MesVoeux” (French for “my wishes”) by Annette Messager exhibited in Courtesy Marian Goodman Gallery, Paris. The work is a straightforward representation of so-called “conceptual unity” in art. The work represents a compilation of human body parts — knee, throat, mouth, ear, hand. Each photo is complemented by some text. And if trying to perceive the grouping of the objects as a body itself, one can see that the tablet with “consolation” is placed at the head, tenderness at the arms, shame at the genitals, and luck at the legs. So the evenly distributed faint light and repeating shapes provide the unity of the work. However, this is the conceptual kind of unity, which asks for our imagination.
