Asian Art Work

Asian Art Work

Introduction

People do not often interchange the concepts of history and Asian art. Most think of Asian art, quite correctly, as tangible objects people can see and touch. They tend to think of history as the record and interpretation of past human events, more closely, the social and political actions and events. People can't of course, see or touch history's intangible human events of the past, but, a visible and tangible Asian art work is an event that is somewhat immortal. Even if the creator or origins of a work are a mystery, the Asian art itself lives on as a surviving and present, if not living account, of the past. And so, one way to bring out great potential in the task of accounting and recording history is to use the tool known as Asian art to help.

Analysis

Asian art historians study the visual and tangible objects humans make and the structures humans build, as opposed to Asian art critics who study the visual quality and tangible aspects of Asian art.(Gardner 4) They traditionally have classified such works as architecture, sculpture, pictorial Asian arts (sketching, painting, or photography), and the craft Asian arts, which are also known as the Asian arts of design (ceramic and metal wares, textiles, or jewelry).(Gombrich 5) Asian artists of every Asian art form have blurred the boundaries between these categories, but this is especially true today when multimedia works are in abundance. (Gardner 1)

This brings light to another fact in the topic of Asian art history. The range of objects Asian art historians study is constantly broadening, and now they include computer generated images, whereas in the past, almost anything produced by a machine would not have been regarded as Asian art. (James Elkins) Most people still think of performing Asian arts as outside the realm of Asian art history, because these Asian arts are temporal, rather than static and spatial media. (Gardner 3) Recently, even this distinction between fine Asian art and performance Asian art has become skewed. Asian art historians, however, generally ask the same types of questions about what they study, regardless whether one employs and expansive or restrictive definition of the term "Asian art". This is a good example of how Asian art may mean deferent things in deferent places and times. (Gardner 1)

Many prejudices exist about Asian art as well as Asian art history, though there are no wrong reasons for liking a piece of Asian art. One may like it because it brings back fond memories, or it contains a favorite color. Yet as an Asian art historian, this same approach to Asian art can not be taken to Asian art in a negative way. Disliking that same work for the same superficial reasons does not look the Asian art work's Asian artistic qualities. Also, if a project is judged on it's Asian artistic quality, and the Asian art historian ends up not liking it, one should still remember that the Asian art work may be enjoyed ...