Very short essay

I don’t know how to handle this Art & Design question and need guidance.

One of the big ideas I want people to take from this course is the proposition that art has a thing called content, a thing that makes it more cogent than decorating the bathroom, therapy, flower arranging or a dozen trivializing applications that art is all too often defined by.

For any serious traditional artist, projecting content, using all the other elements at his/her disposal, form, color, etc, with mastery, is life or death. The artist has to know what the thing is about, has to know what kind of color and/or or compositional arrangement will make it go, and has the style, or approach, best suited to the idea and so on.

ASSIGNMENT

Find an example of single frame visual art, photography or sculpture that conveys some serious and powerful CONTENT. This time YOU choose the example. Essays posted with no image in the discussion window will be disallowed. In a concise 100-200 word written essay post the image you selected and address the following-

After listing the artist, title, date and media of the work you selected you need to do 2 things-

1. Tell us what the work means, that is, what powerful idea or feeling does the work convey?

2. How does the artist convey that feeling or idea using composition, color, narrative or all three

Kittens and roses ain’t gonna make it for this job. I wanna see art with teeth, or with some big ideas in back of it.

Some good, very workable examples from previous ART 100 students are posted below, but don’t choose what they did already. There are literally millions of other possibilities and it is your job to select one. The cogency and originality of your image in addressing this assignment will be a very big part of your grade, and will tell me how well you understand the course content.

Again, the works below are only student examples. NOT a list of selections.