A Brief Introduction to Visual Arts: Artistry, Media, & Classification - Essay Sample

Introduction

The history of art generally focuses on the certain objects made by human beings (artists) mostly in a visual form solely for aesthetic purposes. According to (Kleiner & Fred 34,2016) visual arts can be categorically classified on diverse ways which may include the separation of applied art from the fine arts while focusing inclusively on the artist creativity as well as focusing on different media such as paintings, films, architecture, photography, graphic works, and sculpture. Moreover, the history of the arts is commonly told as a chronology of the masterpieces which were formed during the civilization period. Also, it can be framed as a story of the high culture which is characterized by the epitomized specifically by the wonders of the world (Kleiner & Fred 31,2016). Below is an object dated back from the beginning of civilization to 1500.

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The object above is a visual art (sculpture) which is designed as a keychain head. It's a sculpture of a human head with mouth wide open, heavily bearded and facial expression of the great ancient Asian religious leader.

How and where did you find this item?

I came across this particular object during my exploration in one of the major museums in the Greek anthems (the national archeological museum) which is situated along Tositsa Street. The museum is enriched with all finds from all over Greece and other parts of the Asian specifically India. For instance the fascinating collections of the display, which comprises of more than ten thousand exhibits providing a panorama of Indian and Greek civilization more so from the dawn of prehistory to the late Antiquity (Kleiner & Fred 30,2016). After the exploration, I found out that the object was originally made of wood and was approximately the size of the human head dating back at the beginning of the civilization of India in the last 1500 years.

What was it used for?

The sculpture above was designed to serve a variety of functions for instance; it was used as keychain head (Kleiner & Fred 29, 2016). A keychain head was to serve as a key holder amongst the users. It was such efficient to use it as a keychain head since it was large enough to be held in the hands, also looked so attractive when used as a keychain head more so amongst the family members. Secondly, the sculpture served the purpose of decorating houses, places of works, churches and also places of leisure amongst the Sikhism religion (Williams &Raymond Brady 25, 2017). It was majorly due to its beautiful nature, the glamorous paintings it has as well as the facial expression which resemble the Sikhism rulers that made the object to be liked amongst this religious community.

What does this item reveal about the world that produced it?

The item above reveals a lot about the world that produced it in the following ways; they cherish religion a lot. From the image of the object, it's evident that the object resembles one of the Sikhism religions "God." Sikhism is a monotheistic religious community which believes that "God" is one and mostly prevails in everything hence symbolizes it by a symbol Onkar (Williams &Raymond Brady 29, 2017). Additionally, it's also evident that the sculpture reveals about the leadership of the ancient Asian communities which were ruled by religious leaders as well as kings to exercise their authority in governance as well as protecting the rights of the citizens.

How might it have shaped the everyday lives of the people who came into contact with it?

The sculpture above can shape the everyday lives of the people who come into contact with it in various ways. For instance, a particular group of people has quickly jumped into the conclusion that the sculpture is of a given religion which doesn't fit them. It has led to discomfort amongst certain group of people since they believe that there is only one supernatural being which is God thus others like the Sikhism "God" on the sculpture may irritate (Kleiner & Fred 31,2016). Also a certain group of people more so the female genders have got attracted to the facial expression of the sculpture due to its masculinity nature. Moreover, the sculpture has been used widely for the sole purpose of decorating houses as well as working places due to its attractive nature. However, other people have used it as keychain head specifically for holding keys.

Do you think you can tell anything about the politics or religious beliefs of the time from this thing? Explain

From the time of the sculpture above the religious beliefs of the people around can depict to be that of Sikhism religion. Thus, Sikhism being a monotheistic religious community believes that "God" is one and mostly prevails in everything (Williams &Raymond Brady 23, 2017). The Sikhism religion had leaders whom they confessed to thus making it look like "God" amongst them.

Works Cited

Kleiner, Fred S. Gardner's art through the ages: The western perspective. Vol. 1. Cengage Learning, 2016

Williams, Raymond Brady. Williams on South Asian religions and immigration: collected works. Routledge, 2017.