What does this mean "I had found that the art of simplicity simply means making peace with your complexity"?
It means that: 1. You are a complex person. 2. You CAN'T make yourself a "simple" person. 3. Doing so only makes things more complex for you. 4. It would be simpler if you would just admit that you are complex, and stop trying to fight it. The funny thing about this whole question is that, in a way, it's almost chiding you for asking what it means in the first place. Haha.
As an artist, what websites have you found to be the best for selling your art?
I use Art for sale. Buy prints or originals direct from the artist.I like the format and the ease of use and my site looks very professional
Where are some unexpected places you've found art?
I am sure this is not unexpected any more, but I think bathroom graffiti is unappreciated
What is the oldest art?
There are several candidates for the oldest known forms of art, One is a highly debatable art form called cupules. Which are circular depressions made in stone. Some consider these marks as utilitarian rather than actual art. Created possibly for starting fires or for making thumping sounds by beating sticks onto these rocks. The oldest cupules are found in India and are dated to at least 250,000 years ago (possibly as old as 700,000 years). There is also the Venus of Berekhat. A human carved stone sculpture in Israel dated to around 230,000 years BCEThe oldest known human marks that definitely qualify as "art" with purposeful design are dated at 70,000 years ago. These are to be found at Blombos Cave in S. Africa. They are triangular connected marks with other shapes. Looking very much like a message.There may have been far older organic materials such as wood or cloth that could be considered as art. However, these materials will not last long enough for any real longevity. One of the most common of the oldest art forms is the spray painted hand imprint found all over the world. Created by placing pigment and liquid in the mouth and spraying this concoction over one's actual hand. Leaving a negative imprint of the hand on whatever surface it was placed on. This was a very common way of saying "Kilroy was here" among many ancient peoples.
Is the value of art only found subjectively? Is there any objective value to art?
I am a professional writer and artist. I am 67 years old and have been a recognized artist since age 12, a published writer since age 18. I am NOT famous by any means, but a few thousand people know my work. . . Art has objective value once it is seen as an object for sale or to be used. For instance, a man paints pictures of dogs and asks for $500 a picture. He sells no pictures for ten years. Then he lowers the price to $100 and sells one picture over five years. The fact is that his pictures have objective value, or they are valuable. They are arguably not art but they have value. . . Twenty years later, a woman sees the dog painting sold for $100 and wants it. She cannot find its rightful owner. The picture is sitting in a tool shed behind a garage, exposed to weather. She looks for people in the rent house who might know how to contact someone who knows the painting’s owner. Crack addicts live in the rent house and tell her, “The dude who got that painting from his aunt died about six months ago and the lady’s dead.” . . . The woman who wants the painting SEES VALUE IN THE ART and offers the spokes-addict $50 for the art. The addict takes the money, shuts the door, and the collector takes home the painting. . . Now, questioner, what is the subjective value of the dog painting? Hint: It is not a dollar amount. However, what is the objective value of the art?It is an object in the weather. It originally sold for one-fifth the painter’s original asking price. Then it sold for one-tenth the original asking price. How much crack can the seller buy for $50. The value of crack to the seller is probably greater than the objective value of the crack.Lastly, art consists of materials of some value. Value equals usefulness. Golden objects in tombs and mansions are stolen before cloth or wooden things. Why is gold so valuable? Its lasting usefulness.
Is art universally found in all contemporary cultures?
I hate to bring this up but it seems that some contemporary cultures are doing their very best to destroy art, it is termed iconoclasm. I wonder with dread how it would be to live in a world without music or visual art but then I realize that creativity is, not only essential but, inherent in humanity and inhumanity will never eradicate the desire to produce that which transcends the mundane or inspires the use of imagination... but this is not an answer to your question is it?I have correspondence contact with artists in about 40 countries around the world and can confirm that art is alive and kicking in those countries. Documentary evidence would suggest that Yes every culture on this planet produces art in one form or another. As to whether or not this creativity is reflected in cultures in the rest of this universe or the other universes? Your guess is as good as mine! ... but I would certainly like to believe it is so.Many thanks for your Ask2Answer Darius you started my 2016 with a swirl of thinking.
Why is art found in human societies?what basic needs does it meet?
Lots of different answers here. Abraham Maslow, later in his career, added "aesthetics" to his hierarchy of basic human needs. So, as they used to say in Walter Pater's time, "art for art's sake"--it serves as its own need. Then, there's the notion that human beings are the most sentient of all living things, and we spend a lot of energy in self-expression. We define our place in space and time through vivid imagination and communication. As social animals, it's important for us to receive those messages as well as to send them. Art seems to tap into our emotions through rhythmic patterns that evoke important events in our lives. The interplay of stable and precarious elements (harmony-dissonance; climax-denouement; symmetry-imbalance) emerges from the artist's memory (probably subconsciously) of important moments in life, and the audience relates to the work as it speaks to their own subconscious recognition of those patterns in their own lives. And finally, it sometimes meets the basic need of survival--for many, it's an income. As Mickey Spillane noted, he'd never have written a single Mike Hammer novel if it weren't for the money.
What is dhokra art and where we can find it in Odisha?
Dhokra or bell metal craft is a tribal craft that combines metallurgical skills with wax technique to create things of distinctive beauty. The same technique had been used by the Mohenjodaro craftsman to cast the bronze figurine of a dancing girl some 4500 years ago. It is thus a very old form of craft that is still practiced in parts of Orissa. Tribal families in villages near Dhenkanal town cast boxes, figures of gods and goddesses, and lamps using the lost wax technique. In the process these tribal family have successfully preserved the ancient Orissa Craft of Dhokra Casting and have taken it to new heights of perfection.It is also found in BASTAR region of chattisghgarh and Bengal.