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Art
lobster
Crusty Veteran
The other day I went to Tate Modern. I was impressed with many of the 'blandest' pieces which were as insightful as the shadows they cast. They could easily be objects of contemplation, sand gardens for example. Almost like a joke, some tourists were quite impressed with a rather enigmatic piece until one of their friends pointed out it was a locked cupboard for fire fighting equipment. Do you find dharma expressed in any modern art?
1
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Hello @lobster,
Google got a cool virtual museum as well. :wave: Enjoys
https://google.com/culturalinstitute/project/art-project
I had really never thought of it that way, though now you mention it, Art is self-expression...Ego on a canvas.... it is the artist's way of demonstrating something purely through their eyes, in a way of conveying their view, which more often than not, is missed or mistaken, by the observer.
Note, this is quite different to allegorical depictions of famous scenes, by various historical artists...
I find some depictions of modern life as statements quite abhorrent and distasteful. Unnecessary, really. I'm far more 'traditional' in my tastes... Give me Ingres any time. His work, to me, is sensational in its detail and exquisite softness....
Ingres painted this famous portrait. I have seen this in real life. to say it is impressive does it no justice - it is breathtaking in its detail, and the realism defies belief.... To me, this is true art. (2.6m high, nearly 1.7m wide)
But I'm a hopeless Italian Romantic - whaddaya wan'...?!
I am not a fan of hyper realism ancient or modern
http://www.boredpanda.com/hyper-realistic-art/
but am in total awe of the technical prowess and attentive skill . . .
To change the art form, I was thinking of how Thelonious Monk (non sangha) introduced dissonance . . .
or a poem like so from William Carlos Williams:
_I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox
and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast
Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold_
ah ha, Dadadism and anti art . . . this link (note www) worked better than the 404 error message I was presented with . . .
https://www.google.com/culturalinstitute/project/art-project
many thanks . . . :wave: .
Years ago I went an exhibition at the Tate Gallery, and there was an area which had been cordoned off with a pallet of bricks and a part built brick wall. To this day I believe it was an art installation. Everyone else think it was something being constructed. When and where are the lines of art and life drawn? ;-)
I often consider Cathedrals. Whoever began building them, knew full well they would never see its completion. Some took hundreds of years to construct, without a single Black & Decker workmate or cordless power drill in sight. Sheer bloody hard graft, and often dangerous at that. There, is Art in Architecture.
If you look closely enough, there is Art in everything. Because nothing man-made we ever use, just appeared out of nowhere. Every single man-made object had to begin its existence as a preliminary drawing, on a graphic artist's workbench. From a Jiffy bag to a Jumbo jet. So, in essence, everything you lay your hands on, is a piece of art in motion.
But I do try to live by William Morris' dictum:
"Have nothing in your home that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
Bricks at Tate
http://www2.tate.org.uk/archivejourneys/historyhtml/people_public.htm
The enclosed image from my visit to Tate Modern opposite St Paul's, is not a wall or an experimental construction but would make an excellent point of contemplation in a Zen garden or not?
One might say it is form but empty . . .
I am asking if Western Buddhist relevant art is to be found?
Western Buddhist relevant art?
Care to clarify?
Do you mean 'Western' as in 'Cowboys and Indians', or 'as opposed to Middle- or Far-Eastern'....?
Do you mean Western-Buddhist relevant, or Western Buddhist-relevant?
And what kind of Art? Indoor or outdoor?
As a person who literally spends ninety per cent of her waking travelling time in museums, churches and historical sites, I have to own I still have a non-plussed attitude towards modern art.
I especially love the Renaissance (I could grope my way through Florence blindfolded) and all the movements ranging from Impressionism through Surrealism.
From there onwards, I can't help feeling cheated and left with the feeling that, with a long stretch of the imagination (and a good dose of commercial savvy), anyone could be called an artist.
I find Michelangelo's non-finito technique in his slaves and the monuments to Lorenzo and Giuliano de Medici very illustrative of the Buddhist notions of impermanence, interdependence and non-duality.
Rodin's "The gates of Hell," which pay homage to Dante's Inferno, too.
I would have to throw myself out and be homeless . . .
:hair: .
That is form following function but what if you wish to convey emptiness?
. . . That will illustrate perfectly how emptiness is form . . .
This illustrates it perfectly too...
^^^ Wow!
I know, they're stunning, aren't they? Now I would call that 'Art' far more than I would those flat suspended brick things in lobster's photo. Myself....
I am really asking about art that is illustrative to Buddhists. The fairy and dandelion are more indicative of a pagan perspective perhaps?
Images of meditators, that use hyper realism or perhaps photographs of temples, sangha might work?
What I am trying to ask, obviously in too round about a way, is what in Western art forms might helps the distinct emergence of Western Buddhism?
I would think Buddhism would free the creative faculties of a person. And then if they also have been Buddhist for awhile it will then be western Buddhist art! But I am not sure if there will be western forms like tea ceremony, zen poems and paintings, mandalas, depictions of awakened beings like on lotus flowers with symbols meanings for what they are holding and what is around them.
I think writers like Herman Hesse 'the Glass Bead Game' is an example of how I mean studying Buddhism can spread Buddhist ideas and it won the Pulitzer prize. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Glass_Bead_Game.
So I have no idea what arts will be developed like they developed over 2500 years in other countries!! But no doubt Buddhist thought has and will influence art.
When I read about this underwater museum, and then looked at the pics...I thought of this thread. .....Modern art meets interconnectedness and impermanence? ..
..
It's called The Silent Evolution ...
'....underwater museum created by British sculptor Jason deCaires Taylor with the idea to make art and the marine environment interact. He covers his exhibits in cement that attracts coral growth, then submerges them to the ocean floor, letting tropical coral overtake their surface and eventually form a new reef.
In this photo, statues that represent a ring of children have been placed in an area where two currents meet in order to symbolize human adaptability to new surroundings: "Some of the currents provided nutrients to one side of the circle, and the other side didn't get the same amount of nutrition," says Taylor. "so it became about how these children evolved in their surrounding and how we're all united in the circle," he adds.
-- http://www.cnn.com/2014/07/29/world/gallery/mystic-realm-underwater-museum/index.html?hpt=hp_c3
'In doing so, Taylor hopes the reefs, which are already stressed by marine pollution, warming waters, and overfishing, can catch a break from the approximately 750,000 tourists who visit local reefs each year.'
"That puts a lot of pressure on the existing reefs," Taylor told National Geographic News. "So part of this project is to actually discharge those people away from the natural reefs and bring them to an area of artificial reefs
-- http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/01/pictures/110105-underwater-sculpture-park-garden-cancun-mexico-caribbean-pictures-photos-science/
I've never been one for modern art, but that is of course, just my own personal tastes. I do however appreciate the creativity and effort the artist puts forth in an attempt to lay their soul bare in a physical medium. That said, the only art I truly appreciate is music. Then again, artists, scholars, and philosophers have been debating what exactly defines "Art" for centuries. Longer, really.