Week 6: Felicity Fenner – Thinking Beyond Abstraction

This tutorial was different. We split into groups discussed the topic and then had a debate. I enjoyed the change to the usual and having a debate was fun and a different way of seeing people's different points of view on the topic.

Felicity Fenner’s article raises questions about how and why we appreciate Aboriginal art;

While artists, critics and collectors are often drawn to Aboriginal art through an existing appreciation of Western abstraction, "the strangeness (as W.J.T. Mitchell has argued) of buying other people's religious images and putting them onto the wall", demands consideration. 

The debate question: Appreciation of Aboriginal art by non-Aboriginal people is pointless because they can never know the true meaning of the work. 

I was on the side that it isn't pointless.

discussed the aesthetic value

appreciating it's beauty

have a better understanding of artwork

not pointless because they are keeping their traditional cultures - art, culture, spirit, story, communication, sell/give to us. 

A reminder of the awareness to us, be ignorant.

Just because you don't understand the art doesn't mean that you can't appreciate it. In different ways you can appreciate it, enjoy it and try and understand it through the aesthetics: texture, depth, dots, lines, material, shape, colour, art. You don't have to understand because you are trying to understand where they have come from. 

Everything does have a meaning. Studying about them you are learning and getting a better knowledge. they are or can be an inspiration to other people. You don't have to know where the artist came from to appreciate it. 

There is so much point: Art Centers can help people and them. Enrich a culture who were here, living before us. Employee people into a Western society. Can't emphasis enough how much point there is. Modern European art, many people don't understand it but can appreciate it. There art is also helping with employment. 

The other side who were against this and thought it was pointless had some interesting points.

They stated that it's impossible because we haven't lived their stories, just saying, to enjoy the aesthetics you will never truly understand it completely. 

Their art work is usually multi-dimensional. You can only understand one side at a time. we can't realte to it and therefore can't appreciate what it's worth. You can never pin point what the exact point is. 

You can never really appreciate it how it was meant to be intended, how artist drew it. Can't understand the language, they live the culture, they live it so therefore it is pointless.

Overall both sides had good points and argued their points across but the not pointless side won the debate in the end.  

 

Reference:

Fenner, F 2009, Thinking beyond abstraction, contemporary visual art + cultural broadsheet 38.2, pp. 133.