Understanding and Evaluating the Arts

br Understanding and Evaluating the Arts Understanding and Evaluating the Arts Visual arts which make use of unusual media and technique , such as collage or origami , tend to both benefit from and be challenged by the medium and technique involved . A viewer is apt to react first to the medium and technique and perhaps , because of this , thematic or expressive ideas may be perceived as secondary to the impact of a given work . For example , a piece from the Origami NOW ! exhibition such as Eric Joisel 's Pangolin is very effective at eliciting a

response of admiration and even surprise of wonder at the technique involved in sculpting (or more properly : folding ) into the shape of a convincingly realistic animal form which suggests an armadillo . On the other hand , although the animal offers a meaningful gesture , as though it is eating or drinking , the overall impact of the piece fails to gain any truly expressive or meaningful energy . It is simply a technically admirable piece

By contrast , Joel Cooper 's Gemini , is a deeply expressive piece which evokes stone relief carvings in origami . The faces are , themselves primitive and expressive , but the thematic impact of the piece is much deeper than the surface level facial expression of the pieces central figures . The piece derives important impact from its "sub-text " of transference : ancient stone to ephemeral , which makes a statement about human civilization and history and the ephemerality of human monuments , and arty itself , while simultaneously elevating the ephemerality of the medium and technique (origami ) to a sympathetic relationship to ancient art and antiquity

Yet another piece , Spike Sphere , by Thomas Hull , straddles the line between expressiveness and technical precision without ever falling precisely on one side or another . In effect , Hull 's piece is the most harmonious of those examples of origami on exhibition at PEM . The overt impact of Hull 's piece is that of geometrical expressionism , using a complex geometrical shape to express theme . In my opinion , Hull 's Spike Sphere is meant to represent no less than the entire human cosmos in a single figure of origami . I said "human " because the piece reflects a particularly human concept of "wholeness " -- as in other geometrical abstractions : globes , the atom , stars , galaxies and even some scientific models of the multi-verse . Hull 's figure is spherical and colored like a budding flower , but spiked -- suggesting pain , danger , emotional response . This precise configuration of human emotion and abstract form coupled with organic coloring and an "holistic " gesture elevates Hull 's piece to the highest levels . This work is a masterpiece which reveals the origami , as a medium , embodies much more than the stunned admiration for technique and "cleverness " associated with folding creatively and expressively . Reference Anonymous , PEN . Origami Now ! www .pwm .org , 2008 . accessed 6-12-08

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