Idea--Art or No?

SD art

Today in class we viewed pictures of Mount Rushomre, Crazy horse, and the Corn Palace in terms of high or low culture in art. I must say that this viewpoint sort of ruined the experience for me. To me, Mount Rushmore is amazing, although it is quite commercialized now. To me the mountain itself is high culture--it represnts America and our history. some may say that is disrespects Native American culture, which I can understand, but Crazy Horse is a monument honoring that culture. I see it as sort of a trade-off, not to mention that both monuments bring a great deal of business to the stae that everyone benefits from. I consider both of these monuments high culture because they represent history, heritage, and have amazing stories behind them. On the other hand, there is the Corn Palace in Mitchell. I will admit that the building is interesting to look at, and the work and talent it takes to craft the murals is amazing, but it seems somewhat tacky to me. For this reason, I consider it low culutre. It shows ways of life through the pictures, but the building itself does not really carry a special meaning or story like those of Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse. We also discussed the Statue of Liberty. I have never been to New York or seen the statue, but would absolutely love to. Like Mt. Rushmore, it may be commercialized, but I do not think that factor takes away from the meaning the statue carries for so many people in our country. It is this meaning that teh statue carries that places it in the category of high culture in my mind. The one other piece of art that stuck out in my mind from this lecture was that of Luncheon in Fur. It is not the art that bothers me, it is a bit out there, but whatever. I look at things very literally, and obviously these objects wouldn't be used, but the sheer idea of it grosses me out and makes me laugh at myself.

Posted at 10:43AM Oct 03, 2007 by Jacey L Mohr in General  |  Comments[2]