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September 26, 2005
Practices of Looking--Chapter 1
I found Chapter 1 of Practices of Looking very interesting and informative. The part that interested me the most was the comments that the book made about the value of images and while some people may place a certain visual representation at a very high level, others may not.
I found this particularly interesting because I have often wondered, for example, why the Mona Lisa is such a famous painting, and why the painting my eleven-year-old brother made in art class last week is not. Is the Mona Lisa valued because of the quality of the artwork? Is it valued because of the man who created it, Leonardo da Vinci, who is no less than a hero of intelligence in our minds? When I went to Paris in April, I saw the Mona Lisa (La Jaconde in France) and I have to admit, I was entranced, along with the two hundred or so other tourists who were knocking each other over in the hope of getting a glance. (Although I must admit, it was very orderly and everyone got their turn to be up close!) As I look at the picture I took of the Mona Lisa I am still amazed. But, in all honesty, I do not know why. Why is it that back in April my friends and I ran past all the other art to see the Mona Lisa? Is it because there were big signs proclaiming her new location in Le Louvre? Possibly one person was impressed with the Mona Lisa many years ago and the excitement just grew. Who knows? But, I can say that despite the value that is put on certain works of art, I think all art, modern art, digital art, "fine" art, whatever, deserves as much attention and study as the Mona Lisa.
Posted by lciscotis at September 26, 2005 11:57 PM
Comments
I agree with your post, I also thought that this chapter was filled with a lot of information, but it was definitely valuable information. I never even thought about visual images as having a certain value as the book outlined, but when you really think about everything has some sort of value so why not images?
This chapter was very insightful.
Posted by: Yasmin at September 27, 2005 04:39 PM