1 - Charlie Frohman - What is Art?

Since I missed the first class meeting, I didn't have a chance to respond to the question - what is art? I guess when I normally think about art, I think of more conventional forms or artwork - paintings, sculptures, photography, drawings, etc. Yet in reality, I don't think a generalized answer can be provided to the question, 'what is art," for surely one's answer is highly dependent upon personal experience and interest. What one person finds absolutely beautiful and totally thought-provoking might to the next person be considered ugly and uninspiring. In my opinion, neither person is wrong in their interpretation, and the fact that a single piece can be understood in so many different ways is precisely what makes art so fascinating. To me, art is anything that involves creative thought and individualized expression. Indeed, I don't consider Michelangelo's David any more of a masterpiece than Mozart's Requiem - they are both forms of artistic expression, and valuing one over the other is simply a matter of personal taste and preference.

The image I have posted is of Dali's surrealist painting, "Dream Caused by the Flight of a Bee Around a Pomegranate, A Second Before Awakening." This is my favorite Dali piece, and I have a giant print of it framed and hanging in my room. I like this piece because you really have to look at it for a while before it makes any sense. At first glance, the viewer sees a sleeping nude women, a fish, two tigers, and a bayonet, but the images seem to have no relationship to one another or underlying meaning. However, upon further inspection you see the bee flying above the smaller pomegranite, and all of a sudden your brain starts to draw connections. While the bayonet represents the stinger of the bee, the two tigers (whith their yellow and black striped bodies) represent the body, and the scaly fish (I think) represents its eyes. Regardless of your personal interpretation, I think Dali's exploration of the world of dreams is incredibly interesting, and certainly quite eye catching.