Though humans have been around for nearly 150,000 years, they have only been creating sculptures and statues for approximately 1/5th that time. Over the past 30,000 years, the human brain has manipulated our image of the human body through the exaggeration affect. When the Ancient Greeks managed to make realistic statues, they were not happy because it was boring. Much like the nomadic tribes long ago they felt the need to exaggerate the body to create the ideal image. I found this interesting because it is 100% true, to this day, society has a perceived “perfect image” that people strive to be or at least prefer over a more realistic image. Our image is attainable only through a few minutes of some person sitting in front of a computer with photo shop, rather than slowly chipping away at a rock. It’s interesting that while being driven by the same human trait, the need to exaggerate, we create two entirely different images. The nomadic tribes portrayed the ideal women as being morbidly obese, today most people would agree that is unappealing. Our generation prefers anorexically thin women, as shown by magazines and fashion runways. Like the video says, it’s most likely caused by different cultures and ways of life.
Before watching this video, if I had seen the “Venus of Willendorf” I would have felt disgusted and moved right on to whatever is next. I would have never thought twice about why it is the way it is. I also never stopped to look at how truly unrealistic the Greek sculptures were. I honestly thought that back then, before all the processed foods and electronics that we have now it might have been possible to look similar to that. By the end of the video I was looking at the sculptures and saw just impossible they were, how the legs were stretched and the muscles were inhumanly defined. Unlike the Greek sculptures I have seen more than a few women that would fit the image of “Venus of Willendorf”. So maybe it just depends on the sculptor’s idea of perfect, and how imaginative they are. I understand more now why people might make the god like bodies or the fertile body, but I still cant help but be dumb founded when I see some of the modern art today. The modern art human forms in the video didn’t seem to represent anything realistic or ideal.
The Essay on The Human Body 4
E-mail: [email protected] Before the portrayal of the human body can be critiqued, you must understand the artist's culture. As man evolved over centuries, his views of the body also transformed. Our tour definitely showed the drastic changes in different cultures' art. Each culture and era presents very distinct characteristics. Through time and experimentation, we have expressed our views of the ...
They were more or less stretched or compressed disproportionally. However I think every culture is unique in its own way of expressing what we should look like. In America I think we tend to like people more physically fit and athletic, while in other places like North Korea, you would find a short pudgy man to be attractive. But as it seems, there is generally a deeper meaning behind most things in art. I learned that not everything is as shallow as just throwing things together, even if it may seem that way. The artist intends for every detail, and plans it that way, except for paint splatter art. I think the main reason behind me not liking art is that I have no creativity and I am all about straight forward guidelines, the Egyptians showed me that math can be used in art and that sculptures are very mathematically articulated to create the stability while maintaining proportions. I think that watching this video and a few others has lessened my strict disposition against some forms of art like sculpture.
