Cerritos : Art 100 TTH : Lectures

The goal will be to build a vocabulary of art and architecture that will be used throughout the rest of the course. The building blocks of the formal elements will be combined with compositional issues to provide a basic understanding of how art speaks to its viewer.

The goal will be to build a vocabulary of art and architecture that will be used throughout the rest of the course. The building blocks of the formal elements will be combined with compositional issues to provide a basic understanding of how art speaks to its viewer.

Art can be found in the must unexpected places. Even our most basic human needs (food, reproduction, and shelter) can be functionally modified by the artistic process.

Art can be found in the must unexpected places. Even our most basic human needs (food, reproduction, and shelter) can be functionally modified by the artistic process.

As with Food and Reproduction, Shelter is a basic human need that is satisfied through the artistic process. As we discussed before, different architectural structures are constructed to meet a variety of needs, both private and public. A discussion of domestic, commercial, and public (governmental) architecture will be worked into the broader issues posed.

Unlike food, reproduction, and shelter, religion does not serve an immediate physical need. However, throughout time and place, humans have strived to visualize the universal forces of life and death that are ultimately out of their control. Images of Gods and Goddesses have taken on many divergent visual manifestations. In some religions, divine beings are presented with human traits, in others they are anthropormophic translations of natural forces, and in yet others, the imaging of spiritual beings is strictly forbidden.

Setting aside certain places for religious worship and sacred rituals has always been an important cultural practice. Whether gradiose or simplistically constructed, these spaces are almost always designed to reveal complex spiritual ideas and to enhance an individual's expericence beyond that of the mundane.

Funerary art exists to honor the dead. Within this wider idea of death and honor, however, different cultures have created functionally different commemorative art. Some cultures provide for lavish afterlives, others create monuments to dead leaders, and still others create simple sites for friends and family to continue a relationship with the deceased.

Through time, art has been used in the service of rulers and/or governments. Art can glorify, empower, popularize, and propogandize the state. Almost always meant to overwhelm and dominate, art is a very powerful tool in the hand of those who wish to gain and/or maintain power.

The goal will be to build a vocabulary of art and architecture that will be used throughout the rest of the course. The building blocks of the formal elements will be combined with compositional issues to provide a basic understanding of how art speaks to its viewer.