What is art? Art to me is something that evokes emotion inside of you and is intentional put somewhere in order to evoke that emotion. In my first picture, I traveled to Columbus Circle to take a photograph from inside the stores at Columbus Circle. The view from the second floor of this mall was of the statue at Columbus Circle. I feel that this photograph is of something that is without a doubt a piece of art. The statue that stands strong in the middle of Columbus Circle is in fact a statue of Christopher Columbus. I feel that this is a piece of art for sure because it was intentionally sculpted of Christopher Columbus in honor of him and his achievements. An artist had an image in his mind and sculpted it and had it placed in a center of New York City that was named after Columbus as well. When seeing the statue, you get a feeling of appreciation for what Christopher Columbus discovered and for all of his achievements. The sculpture was made in honor of Columbus and for me it evokes a lot of emotion when I am in its presence. This photograph encompasses a piece of art in my eyes.
On my next journey around the many streets of New York City, I came across a graffiti like image on the gum-covered concrete sidewalk. The image was of a heart that says “Protect Yo Heart” around it. I feel that this photograph could be considered to be a piece of art depending on how you look at it. This drawing on the sidewalk was intentionally painted on the floor to send a message. As you walk around the busy seats of New York usually with your head down, coming across this colorful work on the floor could really brighten your day. I feel that depending on your mood or attitude, you could be persuaded that this work is piece of art. On one hand, you could argue that someone vandalized the floor by painting on it and that the drawing has no meaning, it is simply an illegal drawing on the dirty concrete. On the other hand however, you could argue that an artist painting this on the floor and wanted to send a positive message to whoever happened to see it on the busy New York streets. This photograph to me could be art depending on how you feel or how you view the image.
On my last journey around New York , I took this image of a line of apartment buildings in Brooklyn. I found the different and strange colors of the buildings to be very attractive and pleasing to the eye. I don’t however believe it to be a piece of art. When I see these buildings, I take them at face value and I just see oddly colored buildings in a line. Although I think that they are beautiful, I don’t believe that they are in fact a piece of art. I feel that they are just buildings, there for people to live in. I don’t feel that there is anyway to justify that this is a piece of art, it is simply a row of different colored apartments.
First of all, you are a very talented photographer. After reading the last paragraph of the post, I understood that the buildings themselves, while beautiful, were not considered art. Art needs to evoke emotion and that’s exactly what the statue of Christopher Columbus does. I really liked how you mentioned that the graffiti of the heart is very subjective, considering the art itself is a form of vandalism. Again, really cool pictures!
I love the first picture, along with the idea that art is intentionally placed somewhere to encourage a feeling or emotion. I hadn’t thought about the location of a given art piece. The idea of “intention” in art makes it’s message all the more valuable and substantial. Thank you!
I love your first photograph. I think it’s interesting that you said that the statue evokes feelings of appreciation for Christopher Columbus. While I agree with you in that the statue is a work of art, I do not personally hold Christopher Columbus in particularly high esteem. I believe his treatment of Native Americans was horrific. However, the fact that the same thing can mean such drastically differently things to different people is a good indicator that we are talking about something very meaningful, and by extent, artistic.
I’m genuinely surprised by the second photo which opposes the question, is it really art? Living in NYC, I always looked at that style of graffiti as art because I always thought to myself, Paint/Drawing = Art. This really opened up my mind however. I love the idea of possible vandalism and having no tie to art since the meaning isn’t brought up. Great photos by the way!
I loved how you strongly connect emotion to art. I totally agree with you on this, but I also believe that art has to evoke a sense of greater thinking and evaluating, almost questioning the piece itself. Like this exercise, we were actively questioning what art meant to us, but in this sense I believe that we were actively agreeing that art must make us question and create deeper connections to such objects and images.