Friday, January 19, 2007
Art
Listening to the ending of a particular piece of music, I wondered, "Was that good? Did that work?" I momentarily got the feeling that music is playing with sounds, and arranging them so that it seems pleasing. That's the same as my feelings about visual arts. But then I realized that music, being much more familiar to me than visual arts, doesn't usually seem like an experimental arrangement of sounds, hoping it works OK, but rather something that is known to be pleasing, or not.
With visual arts, I am groping in the dark -- is this good? How about this over here? Leave a little space or it will look too cluttered which will be no good. Hmmmm, how's that? Try a dab of this over there.
I suppose some people are more comfortable with visual art, and when painting, know quite well what to put where to present something pleasing, the same way a musician knows what sounds create the desired effect. Some people may be good at both, or neither.
It is only an encounter with unfamiliar art or music that causes us to grope for familiarity and wonder, "Is that any good? Does it work?"
Listening to the ending of a particular piece of music, I wondered, "Was that good? Did that work?" I momentarily got the feeling that music is playing with sounds, and arranging them so that it seems pleasing. That's the same as my feelings about visual arts. But then I realized that music, being much more familiar to me than visual arts, doesn't usually seem like an experimental arrangement of sounds, hoping it works OK, but rather something that is known to be pleasing, or not.
With visual arts, I am groping in the dark -- is this good? How about this over here? Leave a little space or it will look too cluttered which will be no good. Hmmmm, how's that? Try a dab of this over there.
I suppose some people are more comfortable with visual art, and when painting, know quite well what to put where to present something pleasing, the same way a musician knows what sounds create the desired effect. Some people may be good at both, or neither.
It is only an encounter with unfamiliar art or music that causes us to grope for familiarity and wonder, "Is that any good? Does it work?"
# posted by Jack @ 11:35 PM 
