Why Is That Art?

Chapter 1 of "Why Is That Art?"

In the introduction of this book, we discover that we will be investigating art criticism and aesthetics of 20 different artists, and through multiple viewpoints. I think that this is going to be extremely helpful in learning how to not only view our own work from a new perspective, but others' as well. I'm looking forward to diving into this book deeper.

I will say however, this chapter was painful for me to get thorough. I don't know if it's just because it was an introductory chapter to the book, or because I am mentally self involved and distracted at the moment with my thesis work and writing for my thesis paper--either way it was extremely hard for me to sit down and read about the various definitions of aesthetics, criticism and art movements. I hope that as we continue this book, I will get more out of it than I have currently, chapter 1 just seemed incredibly redundant for me.

With that said, I truly value art criticism- it allows me to see my work through others' eyes and reveal connections that may have been lurking just below the surface of my conscience. I wish we had more chances for discussing our work with art critics and theorists, or even hearing them discuss other's work while in this MFA journey. I think it would prove to be extremely beneficial to each of us. I did appreciate the multiple perspectives from art critics that we have been given a little bit of in Chapter I. I found it extremely interesting that the approach of each art critic is completely different and unique--similar to how each of our approaches to art making as artists is unique to ourselves.

Looking forward to reading more....