Landscape and the Sublime

1. What and when was the Enlightenment?
The Enlightenment, also called the Age of Reason or the Age of Rationalism, was a period during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries when European philosophers stressed the use of reason as the best method for learning the truth. Such philosophers as Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778) and Voltaire (1694–1778) in France and John Locke (1632–1704) in England pondered aspects of education, law, social theory, superstition, and ignorance. Hallmarks of the Enlightenment include the idea that the universe is systematic though vast and complex; the belief that men and women are capable of understanding the universe; and the philosophy of Deism. According to Deism, God created the world and natural laws, then withdrew from involvement in the workings of the universe(Eras and their highlights,n.d.).
The "Enlightenment" was not a single movement or school of thought, for these philosophies were often mutually contradictory or divergent. The Enlightenment was less a set of ideas than it was a set of values. At its core was a critical questioning of traditional institutions, customs, and morals, and a strong belief in rationality and science. Thus, there was still a considerable degree of similarity between competing philosophies.Some historians also include the late 17th century as part of the Enlightenment. Modernity, by contrast, is used to refer to the period after The Enlightenment; albeit generally emphasizing social conditions rather than specific philosophies(para.3).
2. Define the concept of the Sublime.
In aesthetics, the sublime (from the Latin sublīmis) is the quality of greatness or vast magnitude, whether physical, moral, intellectual, metaphysical, aesthetic, spiritual or artistic. The term especially refers to a greatness with which nothing else can be compared and which is beyond all possibility of calculation, measurement or imitation(Sublime,n.d.).
The experience of the sublime involves a self-forgetfulness where personal fear is replaced by a sense of well-being and security when confronted with an object exhibiting superior might, and is similar to the experience of the tragic. The "tragic consciousness" is the capacity to gain an exalted state of consciousness from the realization of the unavoidable suffering destined for all men and that there are oppositions in life that can never be resolved, most notably that of the "forgiving generosity of deity" subsumed to "inexorable fate"(p.4).
3. How did the concept of the Sublime come out of the Enlightenment thought?
In the chapter "Analytic of the Sublime" Kant identifies the sublime as an aesthetic quality which, like beauty, is subjective, but unlike beauty refers to an indeterminate relationship between the faculties of the imagination and of reason, and shares the character of moral judgments in the use of reason. The feeling of the sublime, itself divided into two distinct modes (the mathematical sublime and the dynamical sublime), describe two subjective moments both of which concern the relationship of the faculty of the imagination to reason. The mathematical sublime is situated in the failure of the imagination to comprehend natural objects which appear boundless and formless, or which appear "absolutely great" . This imaginative failure is then recuperated through the pleasure taken in reason's assertion of the concept of infinity. In this move the faculty of reason proves itself superior to our fallible sensible self. In the dynamical sublime there is the sense of annihilation of the sensible self as the imagination tries to comprehend a vast might. This power of nature threatens us but through the resistance of reason to such sensible annihilation, the subject feels a pleasure and a sense of the human moral vocation. This appreciation of moral feeling through exposure to the sublime helps to develop moral character(Immanuel Kant,n.d.).
Another characteristic avenue of Enlightenment thought about art involved the exploration of the psychological bases of our responses as viewers. One of the most important examples is A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful, published in 1757, then again, with additions, in 1759, by Edmund Burke, who would go on to become a politician and political theorist. Though obviously inspired by the ancient treatise attributed to Longinus, Burke extends the frame of reference well beyond rhetorical stylistics. He is concerned to distinguish sharply between the two categories of experience and to explain them in terms of our fundamental responses to pain and pleasure, instincts concerned with self-preservation, on the one hand, and sociability on the other. The sublime involves things that excite ideas of pain and danger without putting us in any real pain or danger; beauty, on the other hand, is the quality we attribute to things that prompt us to love. The sublime is associated with the qualities of vastness, power, obscurity, privation, and difficulty; beautiful things are characterized by smallness, smoothness, gradual variation, and delicacy(Williams,The Enlightenment,n.d.).
4. Discuss the subject matter, and aesthetic (look) of Misrach's work to identify the Sublime in his work. Add some more images of his work.

Monolake2,California,1999

Richard Misrach

Outdoor Dining

Hazardous Waste Containment site(1998)

“ the world is as terrible as it is beautiful, but when you look more closely, it is as beautiful as it is terrible.” – Richard Misrach
Richard Misrach is one of the most influential and prolific artists of his generation. In the 1970s, he helped pioneer the renaissance of color photography and large-scale presentation that are widespread practice today. Best known for his ongoing epic series, Desert Cantos, a multi-faceted approach to the study of place and man’s complex relationship to it, he has worked in the landscape for over 40 years. Other notable bodies of work include his documentation of the industrial corridor along the Mississippi River known as Cancer Alley, the sumptuous study of weather, time, color and light in his serial photographs of the Golden Gate, and On the Beach, an aerial perspective of human interaction and isolation. Recent projects mark departures from his work to date. In one series, he has experimented with new advances in digital capture and printing, foregrounding the negative as an end in itself and digitally creating images with astonishing detail and color spectrum(Richard Misrach,n.d.).
Whether photographing a flooded town, a desert fire, an abandoned nuclear test site or the colors on the horizon emanating from a small town miles away, Richard Misrach draws the viewer into his world through his mastery of color. Ranging from beautiful lakes to secret military bunkers to speed racing on the Utah salt flats, Misrach's work chronicles mans involvement in the desert, while always paying homage to the intrinsic beauty provided by nature. It's through beauty that Misrach's social concerns are most revealed. By pulling the viewer into a glowing light or calm body of water, he presents situations which leave us asking questions about the American desert -- a desert which continues to heal and revive itself regardless of mans actions(Richard Misrach,n.d.).
5. Identify some other artists or designers that work with ideas around the Sublime, from the Enlightenment era as well as contemporary artists.

Lorraine Byrne

Lorraine Byrne's work centres around ideas of the sublime. She is interested in light and how it shapes and changes the landscape and in people’s efforts to tame it. She is curious about the effects produced when nature is manipulated. In addition, Lorraine is fascinated with line, and geometric patterning which occurs in everyday things.

Alan Rankle

Alan Rankle was born in Oldham and has a studio near Southampton. His works respond to 18th and early 19th century topographical paintings and ideas of the 'sublime'. This painting is part of a gift of six paintings to various museums around the country through the Art Fund. In these works, elements of traditional Chinese painting have been combined with more modern concepts, such as Abstract Expressionism. Although Rankle presents his work in different formats, he typically paints within a traditional picturesque framework and some of his works employ the same compositional structures as Claude Lorraine.
6. How does Misrach's photography make you feel? Does it appeal to your imagination?
Richard Misrach's landscapes seem to tell us about human and nature, a beautiful and terrible relationship,and it attracts my imagination.
7.Add a sublime image of your choice to your blog,which can be Art or just a sublime photograph.

Magical combination of smoke and sunrays in this photo, taken in a rice cracker bakery at Inle Lake in Myanmar(image credit: Bas Uterwijk)

References:  Eras and Their Highlights.(n.d.).Retrieved from www.enotes.com/history-fact-finder
                   Age of Enlightenment.(n.d.).Retrieved April 13,2011,from http://en.wikipedia.org/
                   Sublime.(n.d.).Retrieved April 14,2011,from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/sublime_(philosophy)
                   Immanuel Kant.(n.d.).Retrieved April 12,2011,from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/immanuel_kant
                   Williams,The Enlightenment.(n.d.).Retrieved from http://sites.google.com/site/kunstfi/osofiesite/
                   Richard Misrach.(n.d.).Retrieved from http://www.edelmanga/lery.com
                   Richard Misrach.(n.d.).Retrieved April 17,2011,from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/richard_misrach

The social status of artists

Self-portraits of artists like Rubens,Rembrandt and Van Gogh are major monuments in this cult of artistic individuality where traditional harratives of Art history have explicitly or implicitly assumed the emphasis on artisticindividuality beginning in the Renaissance as the"natural"emergence of the self(Durer's self portrait,n.d.).

Self-portrait(1500)by Albrecht Durer

Identify aspects of Durer's self portrait that show a changing view of the artist's view of himself as an individual?
Albrecht Durer from our experience with late European art we take for granted the subject matter of artist the self-portrait.while Durer was not the first to produce a self-portrait,he can be arguably claimed to be the first artist that returned to the subject matter throughout his career,in the images Durer constructs or in the tems of stephen Greenblatt,"fashions"his identity as an attist(Durer's self portrait,n.d.).

Explain how the artist's social status increased during the Renaissance period,briefly explain why this happened?
The Renaissance is best known for its achievements in art.The Renaissance artists broke from medieval traditions in painting,sculpture and architecture.Until that time,most art was used for the decoration of churches,then,during the Renaissance,the artists became more independent and highly regarded.The artists began signing their works,something rarely done during the middle ages.The use of mathematics and geometry to achieve perspective and proportions became common.Surviving classical Roman sculptures provided inspirations for the new Renaissance artists.Towns began to use some of the wealth they had created to support writers and artists. The attmosphere in society in general was shifting and became more aclepting of artistic innovation and experimentation.As more people moved to the cities,their interest in the arts increased.Wealthy people and members of the royal court wanted more refinement in the art and more variety in the content and form.Innovations from artista were encouraged,In addition to encouraging artists to continue placing value in the classical art .Using what they learned from the classics and incorporating new and innovative methods in the art about the current events is the predecessor for today's modern creative expression in art(Renaissance Art and science,n.d.).

Comment on Gavin Turk's work in relation to individualism,status of the artist and egotism?

(God Save Che Guevara,2005.sikscreen on canvas)

Turk pieces often involves his own image disguised as that of a more famous person.He has cast himself in a series of detailed life sized sculptures as different romantic heroes,including Sid Vicious,Jean-paul Marat and the leftist revolutionary Che Guevara,also reflect individualism and egotism(Gavin Turk,n.d.).

Comment on Daimien Hirst's use of his work and the media for self promotion?

The physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living by Damien Hirst (1991)

Death is a central theme in hirst's works.He became famous for a series of artworks in which dead animals(including a shark,a sheep and a cow)are preserved-sometimes having been dissected-in formal dehyde.The physical impossibility death in the mind of someone living,a 14-foot tiger shark immersed in formal dehyde in a vitrine became the iconic work of British art in the 1990s,and the symbol of Briten wordwide.He has also made"spin paintings,"created on a spinning circular surface(Damien Hirst,n.d.).

Find 2 images of work by artists or designers that reflects some of the ideas od individualism,self promotion or egotism?

Laying Down by Danny Roberts

Chanel Girls in Glasses by Danny Roberts

The artist called Danny Roberts.I like how a beautiful picture or painting can make you feel feeling you did not know you had.Art is the most intense mode of individualism.

Raquel Hunter does not consider herself just a designer.She is a artist.Hunter developed her own sense of artistic expression by experiencing new cultures.She began esperimenting in art.Her hobby has turned into a handbag and accessories business that encourages individualism rather than a duplication of style(Local handbag designer promotes individualism,2010).

How do you think artists and designer are viewed in western society today?
Throughout history,artists have represented the meaning of power in many different ways to reflect strength,wealth,authority,influence and propaganda.Today western art can be viewed as a profound influence.However,Western art ,after all,is the most tangible representation of western thought-its dreams,fears,politics and core values."The artist,"as the American Poet Ez-ra Pound said,"is the antenna of the race,"picking up cultral currents via supersensitivity,also artists and desianers are regarded by society.


References:Durer's self portrait.(n.d.).Retrieved from http://www.oneonta.edu/
                  Renaissance art and science.(n.d.).Retrieved from http://www.all-about-renaissance-faires.com/
                  Gavin Turk.(n.d.).Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/
                  Damien Hirst.(n.d.).Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/
                  Local handbag designer promotes individualism.(2010).Retrieved July9,2010, from http://www.stltoday.com/

Barbara Kruger

Barbara Kruger is now internationally renowned.she worked as a graphic designer, art director, and picture editor in the art departments at House and Garden, Aperture, and other publications.Much of her text questions the viewer about feminism, classicism, consumerism, and individual autonomy and desire, although her black-and-white images are culled from the mainstream magazines that sell the very ideas she is disputing(Biography,n.d.).

Barbara Kuger is famous for her signature black,white and red poster-style works of art.Her style is a combination of pictures and text,and this style was used in the two picture,too. 

"I shop therefore I am" show us a new idea.In my opinion,Barbara Kruger think we should go shopping,and the government should encourage people to go shopping.some people save money and put all the money into the bank.some people consume in their daily life.Comparing two kinds of people,the consumers are the real people who love their country.It is a fact that consumption is the purpose of production ,so many consumers provide more jobs for people.They make the economy of a country be rapidly advancing all the time.

 In my opinion,live too high is not a good thing for the economy.The rich waste money on unuseful thing,the poor have no money to have simple food.As Barbara Kruger said"This luxurious garment won't make you rich or beautiful"  Mental wealth is very necessary for a person .we should consume reasonablely and have a right concept of wealeh .

These images communicate these ideas effectively .The pictures  describe  these ideas vividly and the words in the works describe these ideas directly.

Accoording to Xin-Kuan(2009,April26),mercantilism has long been an ambiguous concept .by its very nature,mercantilism was the theory of the relationship between state and market economy on the period of commercial capitalism,but also a practice of interaction between state and market economy.Mercantilism included mercantilist thought and mercantilist policy at two levels,whether mercantilist thinking or policy,had two facet:one was state intervention,and another was free trade,which were indispensable(para.l).
 The two examples mention Consumption and production.they play a important roles in mercantilism. 

Barbara Kruger
still from The Globe Shrinks
dimensions variable
four-screen digital video installation
2010

"The Globe Shrinks"(2010) is a multiple channel video installation on that continues Kruger's engagement with the kindness and brutality of the everyday,the collision of declaration and doubt,the duet of pictures and words,the resonance of direct address,and the unspoken in every conversation(Barbara Kruger"the Globe Shrinks"at Mary Boone Gallery,2010).
She is a legendary New York artrist.


References:Biography.(n.d.).Retrieved from http://www.barbarakruger.com/.
                     Xin-Kuan,L.(2009,April 26).Analysis of the concept of mecantilism.Retrieved from  http://en.cnki.com.cn/.
           Barbara Kruger"The Globe Shrinks"at Mary Boone Gallery.(2010).Retrieved from http://slamxhype.com/art-design/barbara-kruger