Blog Three

Big Ideas and Artmaking

This article discusses the definition of a big idea and how artists use big ideas. I think this is an interesting thing to think about because it can actually help develop ideas for different pieces of art. For example, if you are interested in flowers you can think of how you are going to use them  (as either a theme, a subject, or a big idea)  and hopefully develop more ideas from there.I think the biggest thing I found useful was the explanation of the differences between terms.

Big Idea: An overall idea that an artist uses in all works
Theme: a prevailing idea throughout some works
Subject Matter: the focus of certain works

The main thing I found confusing about this, or rather something I didn't completely agree with. Is that artists even have a big idea in the first place. How often do artists really think about what the theme of a piece is going to be before doing it? I think sometimes artists want to say something with their work, and sometimes they start painting, drawing, writing, ect., and it just comes out. Maybe that is because I am a mediocre/bad artist but who knows. 

Interpreting Connotations in Visual Culture

This article discusses the connotations and denotations in artwork. The thing I found most applicable was the connotations and denotations in advertisements. I definitely think advertisements are designed to portray a certain image, even if they don't come out and say it. The example with the pasta makes perfect sense and it brings to mind countless other examples that sort of click with this idea.

I didnt necessarily agree with this theory as it applied to general artwork, or artwork that didnt already have an agenda. I guess the artist has the same power to push something on the viewer by using the connotations of images, however I dont think every artist does this. I definitely think to push a message in this way it has to  be intentional. With both advertisements and artwork I think this type of intentional message sharing can backfire. For example if you are trying to show that a product is really Italian or in an artwork you are trying to portray someone as being Italian and you inadvertently use too many objects to do this, it may seem fake and make the person or product seem fake Italian.

I dont know if that makes sense, but that's the beauty of art; everyone sees something different when they look at it.