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Art vs interior decorating

DrZoidberg

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What's the difference between art and interior decoration? Is there a difference? Does art have to be aesthetically pleasing?

Deep questions
 
What's the difference between art and interior decoration? Is there a difference? Does art have to be aesthetically pleasing?

Deep questions

Interior decoration is a form of art. Just as good landscaping, make up application and hairdressing.

There is a difference in the medium being used, but not the end result, something to be gazed upon and admired.
 
What's the difference between art and interior decoration? Is there a difference? Does art have to be aesthetically pleasing?

Deep questions

Interior decoration is a form of art. Just as good landscaping, make up application and hairdressing.

There is a difference in the medium being used, but not the end result, something to be gazed upon and admired.

In China, for example, some take Feng Shui to an art form...
 
It seems to me that 'art' is not a thing but a way of looking at things. I forget who it was who presented an urinal as 'art', but he made the point well: it is often a graceful shape. I think we want to do a lot of re-definition.
 
Art evokes emotion. That emotion need not be pleasant; but for obvious reasons, the most popular art is that which evokes pleasant emotions.

Interior design is a subset of art, intended for long term exposure - and again, for obvious reasons, some emotional prompts (including even some pleasant ones) are easier to live with in the long term than others.

Good interior design helps the people who occupy the space to feel things that are both appropriate to the setting, and appropriate to the likely duration of their exposure to that setting. A bedroom therefore requires a very different design from a boardroom; a bathroom should not be designed to evoke a similar response to that evoked by a kitchen.
 
Anything can be done artistically, but I would say that most interior design is no more "art" than picking out one's clothes in the morning.
Is there a difference between interior decoration and interior design? Much interior design is done largely out of pragmatic goals, often with an effort towards minimizing the elicitation of any strong emotions or reflective thought. Also, much it is done with goal of emphasizing social status, and thus no more art than wearing a Rolex.

If interior decoration is art, then is buying and hanging a painting in your home an artistic act? Is it as artistic as what the painter of the painting did?

Although, I think it is sometimes done artistically, I don't view most interior decoration as particularly artistic and would bet that the people that do it professionally don't show notable artistic aptitudes in other mediums. I guess I agree with the view that whether a thing is art is determined by the mindset of the person that created it, whether that means physically created the object itself, or created a way of looking at it or feeling about it.
 
Does art have to be aesthetically pleasing?

I don't think so. IMO, art is more about meaning than beauty, about what it expresses rather than how it looks. For that reason, I don't think interior decorating can be considered art.


I was walking in New York with my son, who was 9 or 10 at the time, and we were walking down a street lined with art vendors. We passed by some guy selling some paintings, and as we stopped to look. The artist asked my son what he thought. My son had a very strong reaction and proceeded to tell said artist that his art was "disgusting", "vulgar", and that he hated it. The artist got all excited and was asking him what he found disgusting, why, and what other thoughts he had about it. The artist was thrilled that someone had an emotional reaction to his art, and said that it made his day that his art had stirred such a reaction. Meanwhile there was another art vendor who overheard and came over and asked my son what he thought of his paintings (which were NYC skylines at night) and he said "it's interesting..." and the first guy said something like "OOOOOHH!!! Burn!"
 
I don't think so. IMO, art is more about meaning than beauty, about what it expresses rather than how it looks. For that reason, I don't think interior decorating can be considered art.


I was walking in New York with my son, who was 9 or 10 at the time, and we were walking down a street lined with art vendors. We passed by some guy selling some paintings, and as we stopped to look. The artist asked my son what he thought. My son had a very strong reaction and proceeded to tell said artist that his art was "disgusting", "vulgar", and that he hated it. The artist got all excited and was asking him what he found disgusting, why, and what other thoughts he had about it. The artist was thrilled that someone had an emotional reaction to his art, and said that it made his day that his art had stirred such a reaction. Meanwhile there was another art vendor who overheard and came over and asked my son what he thought of his paintings (which were NYC skylines at night) and he said "it's interesting..." and the first guy said something like "OOOOOHH!!! Burn!"

That brings up the next question. Is art functional?

I paint. I did research to find the most boring design possible for a painting I hung across from my bed in my bedroom. For the living room I did one with very bright colours. If I would switch places on them both would be torture.

Thoughts?
 
That brings up the next question. Is art functional?
If you can find value in altering your emotional state, then yes.
I paint. I did research to find the most boring design possible for a painting I hung across from my bed in my bedroom. For the living room I did one with very bright colours. If I would switch places on them both would be torture.

Thoughts?

I lived in Buenos Aires for a year and my rental apartment came furnished with an extremely large and colorful painting in in pastels and vibrant yellows and pinks in a sort of an organic-cubist-abstract style that my landlord had rescued from a trash pile. The painting was hung just opposite the bed in the bedroom. I absolutely hated it. I told my wife that it would be tolerable in the living room but it nearly made me queasy looking at it lying in bed. My wife loved it right where it was though so it stayed.
 
I was walking in New York with my son, who was 9 or 10 at the time, and we were walking down a street lined with art vendors. We passed by some guy selling some paintings, and as we stopped to look. The artist asked my son what he thought. My son had a very strong reaction and proceeded to tell said artist that his art was "disgusting", "vulgar", and that he hated it. The artist got all excited and was asking him what he found disgusting, why, and what other thoughts he had about it. The artist was thrilled that someone had an emotional reaction to his art, and said that it made his day that his art had stirred such a reaction. Meanwhile there was another art vendor who overheard and came over and asked my son what he thought of his paintings (which were NYC skylines at night) and he said "it's interesting..." and the first guy said something like "OOOOOHH!!! Burn!"

That brings up the next question. Is art functional?

I paint. I did research to find the most boring design possible for a painting I hung across from my bed in my bedroom. For the living room I did one with very bright colours. If I would switch places on them both would be torture.

Thoughts?

Art can have many functions. In your bedroom you might want something relaxing or something that motivates you or emotes you in some desired way.
Colors influence our minds, as well as the theme of the painting.

Diego Rivera did murals with a social message...(Social function)

DIADiegoRivieramural_1200.jpg

Picasso,with "Guernica", the same...

PicassoGuernica.jpg


Goya , with the "Disasters of War" series, the same...

pictify.com-francisco-goya-the-disasters-of-war-1334930651_b.jpg

The function of these paintings is to make us aware of a certain aspect of social life.

There is also a physical function, like in this handrail...

3cdb6b496ed33c275ea032737cb8bba5.jpg


Or these chairs...

ArtofSeating_webimg_354ftr.jpg



There is also a personal function, the artist's personal pleasure...

Sorolla ("Paseo a orillas del mar")

foto7-paseo-a-orillas-del-mar-1909-m-seo-sorolla.jpg
 
Art evokes emotion. That emotion need not be pleasant; but for obvious reasons, the most popular art is that which evokes pleasant emotions.

Interior design is a subset of art, intended for long term exposure - and again, for obvious reasons, some emotional prompts (including even some pleasant ones) are easier to live with in the long term than others.

Good interior design helps the people who occupy the space to feel things that are both appropriate to the setting, and appropriate to the likely duration of their exposure to that setting. A bedroom therefore requires a very different design from a boardroom; a bathroom should not be designed to evoke a similar response to that evoked by a kitchen.
Unless you are talking about designing interior office space - then it becomes cramming the most amount of people in the smallest possible space. I suppose the "art" becomes trying to do so without a mutiny.
 
Art evokes emotion. That emotion need not be pleasant; but for obvious reasons, the most popular art is that which evokes pleasant emotions.

Interior design is a subset of art, intended for long term exposure - and again, for obvious reasons, some emotional prompts (including even some pleasant ones) are easier to live with in the long term than others.

Good interior design helps the people who occupy the space to feel things that are both appropriate to the setting, and appropriate to the likely duration of their exposure to that setting. A bedroom therefore requires a very different design from a boardroom; a bathroom should not be designed to evoke a similar response to that evoked by a kitchen.
Unless you are talking about designing interior office space - then it becomes cramming the most amount of people in the smallest possible space. I suppose the "art" becomes trying to do so without a mutiny.

My experience suggests that most modern commercial office space is designed to evoke helplessness in the inmates, presumably for exactly that reason :)
 
I don't think so. IMO, art is more about meaning than beauty, about what it expresses rather than how it looks. For that reason, I don't think interior decorating can be considered art.

So what's the meaning of abstract art?

Abstract art in general? Fucked if I know.

Individual pieces, though, will each have their own meaning. Or meanings, since the artist will have his/her own idea of what it means, as will observers.
 
So what's the meaning of abstract art?

Abstract art in general? Fucked if I know.

Individual pieces, though, will each have their own meaning. Or meanings, since the artist will have his/her own idea of what it means, as will observers.

I'm no expert, but I believe that the point of abstract art is that the observer projects meaning onto the canvas. The paints and shapes are to evoke and inspire. It's hooks for our subconscious to get drawn out by. That's of course, only abstract paintings.

And I've done my fair share of literally and film analysis. Great works of writing and film are always way more complex and deep than what the artist had in mind when he/she first created it. Meaning is most often added afterwards by the public. So is the meaning with a work the meaning the creator put into it, or is the meaning what the consumers read into it?
 
Abstract art in general? Fucked if I know.

Individual pieces, though, will each have their own meaning. Or meanings, since the artist will have his/her own idea of what it means, as will observers.

I'm no expert, but I believe that the point of abstract art is that the observer projects meaning onto the canvas. The paints and shapes are to evoke and inspire. It's hooks for our subconscious to get drawn out by. That's of course, only abstract paintings.

And I've done my fair share of literally and film analysis. Great works of writing and film are always way more complex and deep than what the artist had in mind when he/she first created it. Meaning is most often added afterwards by the public. So is the meaning with a work the meaning the creator put into it, or is the meaning what the consumers read into it?

The Creation of Adam Fresco by Michelangelo
Creaci%C3%B3n_de_Ad%C3%A1n_(Miguel_%C3%81ngel).jpg


1. What is Michelangelo telling us with this painting?

2. What was Michelangelo telling the Church (Rome)?
 
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