mirror image; art and philosophy in retrospect

There is no such thing as art for art's sake. Every piece of art, no matter how depicted; as sculpture, painting, music or architecture; springs out from man's intelligence.
Sometimes, they're products of sudden emotional outbursts brought about by events, places, things and people that artists stumble upon with and from things they remember from a past which was either sweet, bitter, or even bittersweet.
This is the greatest misconception on artists and why their works are they way are; that they're only purely based on emotional outbursts and deeply sought for sentiments. But most of the time they, the stories behind each artwork, come from contemplation and thought.
They are mirrors which reflect on how an artist thinks. They are windows upon which we, the always awed audience, are permitted to see through the ideas of an artist. In turn, we also contemplate, think. We reflect and speculate about a piece of art; how it came to be and what thought could have entered the artist's mind which made him produce such.
This is art. It isn't an isolated case, one which stands alone as an ornament or merely an adornment on the wall. It is a product of intellect and on the other end, the one which is receiving, also uses his intellect to percieve what is being laid out in front of him. And, it isn't merely something you see and then forget [for only art which is a product to be consumed by capitalists is shallow], rather, it is something which is imprinted on the mind and becomes part of the intellect. -Roni
On March 7, we had our field trip to National Museum and Ayala Museum for SpecThought. And on that trip, we weren't merely there to entertain and amaze ourselves; we were there to be Philosophers and search for insights.
While there, it hit me. All these works of art have inspirations. Inspirations are those that give out a striking idea to an artist. They maybe ideas like a philosopher which makes him contemplate, but in artists they vent it out through creating masterpieces or works of art.
Another insight that I realized is that the unrealism found in art. Why does art mostly convey unrealism in its different forms? A sculpture of a human is not always symmetrical or true-to-life. Maybe we it is how we want to perceive things or how we want our life to be like.
It is there that i realized—we sometimes desire that our life is exaggerated. -Nino
Man is a curious animal. This is what distinguishes him from the lower animals. It causes him to think, and to try and find an answer or an explanation for everything he observes. It is this quest for knowledge that triggered the phenomenal and explosive evolution of the human intellect over the past ten thousand years, representing less than 5 per cent of man's sojourn here on earth. It guided him from a barbaric way of life not much more sophisticated than that of the lower animals, to shooting a man into space and landing him on the moon.
The human intellect is constantly challenged by the questions 'how', 'why', where', and 'what'. His speculations hae covered the entire spectrum of the universe, from the most simple and obvious of observable phenomena around us to the most erudite and abstract of concepts; from wanting to know how a tree grows and why the sun arises every twenty hours to where we came from and why we are here. -Mabel
Makikita ang pilosopiya sa mismong pagkakabuo ng kulturang Pilipino. Ang mga kulturang ito ay nabuo mula sa iba't ibang pagtugon ng mga Pilipino noon sa kanilang kapaligiran. Dahil sa mga katanungang tungkol sa kanilang mundong ginagalawan nila noon, humanap sila ng mga kasagutan para rito. Ang paraan ng kanilang pagtatanong ay maituturing na pamimilosopiya dahil ito ay ang paghanap ng katotohanan sa lahat ng mga pangyayari sa kanilang kapaligiran. Nabuo ang iba't ibang kultura at paniniwalang Pinoy dahil rito. -Tim
In one of the halls of the national museum, one of the inscriptions argued that art was not merely an imitation of nature for the reason that it would never account for the great importance societies attribute to their works of art. The inscription then argues that, more than just an imitation, art is rather a self-expression of the artist. a work of art, through its presentation, style, and subjects, among others, show the artist's and his society's worldview, or if not those, at least his human idiosyncracies.
The point is well argued for but i believe the same can be said for philosophy. Like works of art, works of philosophy, through their presentation, style, and concerns, show the philosopher's and his society's worldview, or at least his personal idiosyncracies. And as such, philosophy must likewise not be taken as a mere imitation of the mind, nature, world, or whatever the philosopher is philosophizing about. i
I find it that this shows in everyone, whether or not he regards himself a philosopher. In the limited time one remains in the world, what one chooses to ask, what one chooses to value, what one chooses to disregard, and what one chooses the take for granted -- all these reflect one's origins and destination on life. -Michael


in this post:
Roni
Nino
TIm
Mabel
Karl
Michael
*Paula