Alexandra F.

Aldaba Art Stud 1 WFQ-1 Sir Abraham Sakili Reaction Paper: Art and Society Reading the article was both enlightening and intriguing. Despite the difficulty I had in trying to make out all the words printed on the bad photocopy of the assigned reading, I found myself quickly going through one page after another. When I didnt understand it right away, I read it again genuinely curious about what Alice G. Guillermo had to say. I learned about how different people thought of art in different ways. It made me think about what art was to me personally. Ive been drawing since I could hold a crayon, but why was I drawing? What did my art mean? The article discussed two positions in which art can be viewed: the formalist and the contextualist. The formalist position is basically art for arts sake wherein the artist attempts to detach himself from outside influences which may affect his artwork in order to achieve a pure art. The ideas in the formalist position remind me of what Siddhartha Gautama went through to attain enlightenment. He detached himself from his worldly possessions and meditated till finally, he became Buddha. It calls the artist to paint what is universally known to be beautiful and to remove all personal thoughts and prejudices. The contextualist position on the other hand, recognizes that art is always affected by the social, emotional, or political situation the artist or his society is in (whether the artist is conscious of this or not). Art has meaning because it is affected by what is going on in society. It is a reflection of the life and experiences of the artist. Also, there can be many meanings for one piece of art depending on the experiences of the audience. Before reading the whole article, I mightve thought that I believed in the formalist position. I used to sometimes draw or paint without really thinking, my mind wandering about what went on that day, the yummy food I had for lunch, or the hot weather of the Philippines. I didnt think anything outside my own thoughts and feelings affected my art. In hindsight, I realize that I was partly right. My thoughts and feelings did affect my art. But when I know or think about the social or political situation of society, it unconsciously affects my art. What the audience knows and thinks also affects the meaning of my art for them. For example, if something happened on a certain day and it made me sad, I might use darker shades of color when I paint. I also understand now why on some days, I might find an artwork beautiful, but on other days, when my mood is different, I might not like it so much anymore. I know now that to truly understand art, we need to look deeper than simply what is on the canvas. We must see the circumstance the artist was in when he made a particular art in order to fully grasp the meaning of that art. As the article said, when the artist recognizes his social role, art becomes useful in contributing to the development of culture, fostering self-awareness, and in changing society.