Understanding Art for Geeks

HeadMounted found a great little flickr collection of art for geeks where helpful designers have provided you with useful hints to help you better comprehend the confusing art world. Or not. Some of them are very clever.

Comments

Art for geeks? I can think of one...

[Nemilar]

xkcd is true art for geeks. And yes, comics are an art. There's drawing involved.

appreciation of art is similar to literature ..

[wakim1618]

Several friends of mine teach art history at a large university and in my conversations with them, I came to appreciate that the study and appreciation of art is similar to that of the study of literature or film. For example, throughout history, there are innovations in story telling, eg Shakespear introduced the device of a character speaking aloud to himself exploring his own inner thoughts and conflicts or eg Griffith's camera work in Birth of a Nation and shooting in 'natural' not studio settings. At another level, looking at works of art as a reflection of social structure and myths and understanding how innovations in aesthetics and story telling accompanies social changes and transformations. For example, prior to the Renaissance, much of art was iconography (the representation of icons of religion and pivotal moments in the story of Christianity) whence the Renaisannce introduced the human subject into art. More recently, cubism and modernism movements in art and architecture reflects the rise of industrial society and the capture of the imagination of the cultural elites by marxist ideologies. Hence the change in materials in housing and furniture and crafts from arnate woods to then modern materials such as glass, concrete and steel and the mass production of quality housing and furniture.

Another strand of the study revolves about the construction of a social canon (the 'great' works of genius and orginality) and how it reflects the social shifts in power. One way of understanding this is the common complaint amongst film afficiandos that the academy awards are a popularity contest and that, over and above the wonderful movies, Speilberg has been a brand and is a socio-economic construction.

In short, the appreciation of art is much more than aesthetics and more than meets the eye. In fact, it engages the intellect and a deep appreciation involves a broad understanding of the social historical context.

Re:NSFW.

[ContractualObligatio]

If you're working somewhere where a collection of art paintings like this is NSFW (and you're not paranoid), quit as soon as possible...

Re:Art for geeks? I can think of one...

[gardyloo]

Fan: So do you like draw this or something?
Banky: I ink it and I'm also the colorist. The guy next to me draws it, but we both came up with the characters. Next...
Fan: (snidely) What does that mean, you ink it?
Banky: Well, it means that Holden draws the pictures in pencil, and he gives it to me to go over in ink. Next...
Fan: So basically you just trace.
Banky: It's eh...it's not tracing, alright? I add depth and shading to give the image more definition. Only then does the drawing truely take shape.
Fan: No-no-no-no, you go over what he draws with a pen. That's tracing.
Banky: Not really. Next...
Fan: (To next guy in the line) Hey man, let me ask you something. If somebody draws something, and you draw the exact same thing like, right on top of it, without going outside the original designated art, what do you call it?
Other Fan: I dunno man, tracing?
Fan: (Laughing, to Banky) See?!
Banky: (Losing patience, to Other Fan) You want your book signed or what?
Fan: Hey-hey-hey-hey-hey, don't get all testy with him just because you got a problem with your station in life!
Banky: Oh, I'm secure with what I do.
Fan: Then just say it...you're a tracer!
Banky: (To Other Fan) How should I sign this?
Other Fan: I don't want you to sign it man, I want the guy who draws Bluntman & Chronic to sign it. You're just a tracer.
Fan: Tell him, little shaver.Collector: You're mucking with a G, you fuckin' tracer.
Banky: I'll trace a chalk line around your dead fucking body, you fuck!
Holden: [to Security Guards] Will you get him out of here!
Collector: [as he's being dragged away by Security Guard] Hey wait a second! He jumped me, you fucking tracer!
Banky: YOUR MOTHER'S A TRACER!