Functions of Art

Art plays an important role in the society.

There is difficulty in quantifying the functions of
arts in the history of mankind being because almost
all creations of man had its own unique purpose.
Different art forms have its unique functions and
different reasons for being created.
Personal or Individual Function
• Artists have their personal reason as they try to express
themselves. An artist may create out of a need for self-
expression, or gratification. She/ He might have wanted to
communicate a thought or point to the viewer.

Ex. Fernando Amorsolo, painted “Mango Pickers, 1936” (and

others to showcase the life and real experience of Filipinos
working in the field and for some audience to appreciate the
beauty of nature.
Mango Pickers by Fernando Amorsolo
•Social Function

As social beings, we associate with the people around

us. Art is avenue to extend his sense of belongingness and
connection with people. Through art, human learns to love
and help each other.

Art gathers man as one family and community,

through celebration like festivals, choral singing or group
dancing in religious rituals. Architectural structure like
houses are built to unite families.
Sinulog Festival in Cebu
 Economic Function
Any art production will definitely involve money.
Reproduction of any art works that would still become the
highest-paid, or even the reproduction of songs by great singers
like Michael Jackson, Celine Dion and Whitney Houston will
gain millions of dollars.
• Film industries that spent millions of pesos for the production.
J.K. Rowling, the author of the best-selling Harry Potter series,
became one of the most highly paid women in British history.
 Political Function
• Political aspect of one particular country play a
very distinctive role nowadays.

• Arts became the political medium to promote

their political programs and political status.
In politics, campaign advertising is the use of an advertising
campaign through the media to influence a political debate, and
ultimately, VOTERS.
 Graffiti
Individual/Social

Graffiti is writing or drawings made on a wall or other surface,

usually without permission and within public view.
 Cultural Function
Tangible representations of one culture like architectural
structures like buildings, sculpture like furniture and
intangible representations like music, dance, and
language or literary piece form part of a nation’s culture.

These cultural representations through art forms serve as

a channel to share and transmit from one generation to
another generation.
The Pandanggo sa Ilaw The Maglalatik
Batong Baboy – a dance that shows how to
catch and transport a pig using
bamboo pole. Manerwap Rain Dance
 Religious Function
• Art forms like architecture, music, dance, and sculpture
play an important role in one cultural spirituality. People
from the past worshipped their gods through sculptures
with music and dance.
• Nowadays, people are gathered in an architectural
structure like churches, arenas and other venues to
worship and they incorporate music and dance.
The Basílica de la Sagrada Família, Calasiao Church
also known as the Sagrada Família, is a Calasiao, Pangasinan
large unfinished Roman Catholic minor
basilica in the district of Barcelona,
Catalonia, Spain.
Iglesia ni Cristo (INC)
“Church of Christ”
A synagogue is a Jewish or Samaritan house of worship.

Three Hebrew terms are used to describe the different functions of the synagogue: Bet
Midrash (a house of study), Bet Knesset (a house of meeting) and Bet Tefillah (a house of
prayer).
 Physical Function
• Our health is our first priority, architectural structure like
hospitals, physical therapy center and laboratories are
there to assist us for health care.

• Music and dance perform an important role when our

bodies need to rejuvenate and revitalize, one example is
Zumba dance and reflective music for yoga. Painting
therapy was proven as therapeutic by some cancer
patient.
Zumba Classes
YOGA
 Aesthetic Function
• Beautification adds appeal and excitement like displays
of paintings in an empty area on a wall. Fashion always
aims for beauty that is appealing to the eye.

Film industries, Opera’s and Theater provide

extravagant and beautiful props and costumes for its
realistic impact and appeal.
 FUNCTIONAL AND NON-
FUNCTIONAL ARTS
Escalona (1992) classified arts into functional and non-
functional
• Functional arts – These are the arts which have practical
usage. Functional art refers to art forms that are produced to
perform specific or several purposes. An example of this
classification is a chair. It is not only the form of the chair that
is presented. Its functional purpose is also highly appreciated
too.
Ex. A potter who creates tea sets is making functional art.
• Non-Functional Arts- These are the arts which have no
other purpose except that of giving pleasure or life
enhancement.
Ex. Paintings and such pieces of art that are created to
view and contemplate.
 CLASSIFICATIONS OF ART

• Artist always has the freedom to express themselves

through countless ways and several means, including
visual arts, performing arts, decorative arts and
applied arts.
• Likewise, artist chooses subject for his artworks to
express his intention. This consideration will provide
clues on the viewer’s understanding of the artworks
and the intentions of the artist.
1. Visual Arts- It deals with any creation
of an artist that are primarily visual in
nature.
a) Painting- It is a category in visual and fine arts
that involves the application of paint, pigment,
color, or other medium to a surface (support base)
in order to present a picture of a subject. Paintings
may have support bases such as walls, paper,
canvas, wood, concrete glass, cloth, or cardboard.
Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci

The Mona Lisa was

originally this type of portrait, but
over time its meaning has shifted
and it has become an icon of the
Renaissance—perhaps the most
recognized painting in the world.
 The Starry Night by Vincent van Gogh
Starry Night is one of the most recognized pieces of art in the world.
It is absolutely everywhere, too. It can be seen on coffee, mugs, t-shirts,
towels, magnets, etc.
There are various interpretations of Starry Night and one is that this
canvas depicts hope. It seems that van Gogh was showing that even with a
dark night such as this it is still possible to see light in the windows of the
houses. Furthermore, with shining stars filling the sky, there is always light
to guide you.
b) Sculpture- It is the art of carving,
modelling, casting, assembling, and
constructing materials into figures of forms.
 Andres Bonifacio Monument

The Andrés Bonifacio Monument,

commonly known simply as
Bonifacio Monument or Monumento,
is a memorial monument in Caloocan,
Philippines which was designed by
the National Artist Guillermo
Tolentino to commemorate Philippine
revolutionary Andrés Bonifacio, the
founder and Supremo of the
Katipunan.
c) Architecture- It is the art of designing and
constructing buildings and other non-building
structure for man’s use.

The Colosseum in Rome is

the largest and most
famous monument in
the Roman world.
d) Plastic Arts - These are art forms that involve
modeling or molding such as sculpture and ceramics,
or art involving the representation of solid objects
with three-dimensional effects.

Examples are architectural designs and

construction of buildings and other structures: landscape
gardens, furnishing designs, City Planning, Interior
Design, Industrial Design, etc.
2. Performing Arts
a) Dance- It is a type of art that generally involves
movement of the body, usually rhythmic and
dependent to music, performed in many different
cultures and used as a form of expression, social
interaction and exercise or presented in a spiritual or
performance setting. It may also be regarded as a
form of non-verbal communication between humans.
This includes ballroom dance, ballet, modern dance,
hip-hop dance, folk dance and others.
Ballet is a type of performance dance that A folk dance is a dance developed by
originated during the Italian Renaissance people that reflect the life of the people of
in the fifteenth century and later developed a certain country or region.
into a concert dance form in France and
Russia.
b) Music - The art of combining sounds of varying
pitches to produce a coherent composition that is
melodious, harmonious, intelligible, and expressive
of ideas and emotions. Examples of music are vocal
music, instrumental music, opera, music comedy,
musical play and others.
c) Theater- A play or a drama that is being
re-created by an actress or actors to
form a dramatic art form.
Ang Huling El Bimbo follows the story of four friends:
Emman, Anthony, Hector, and Joy. Set in two generations, the
adventure of this barkada is a journey that teaches its audience
how each and every decision we make can lead to different
paths and consequences that we have to face and take
responsibility for.
Miss Saigon is a powerful and poignant tale of love in a war-torn country. In the
dangerous days before Saigon’s fall in 1975, Chris (an American GI) and Kim (a
destitute Vietnamese orphan working her first night as a prostitute) fall in love. When
the city falls, the lovers are forced apart, and each must find their own way, alone.
When, years later, Chris is able to return to Vietnam, he brings with him an American
wife. Kim, who has waited for Chris, has raised their son, Tam, who is “bui-doi”-- a
term for a child conceived during the horrors of war. With so much devastation
behind them, Kim and Chris must decide how to move forward. Miss Saigon is a
tragedy of massive proportions: passionate, profound, and heart-wrenchingly honest.
d) Film- or motion picture is the art of moving images; a
visual medium that tells stories and exposes reality. Thus,
it is the manipulation of reality through image and sound.
3. Literary Arts- written material such as
poetry, novels, poems, drama and others. It
is highly expressive in nature with the
choice of words and emotional images.
4. Digital Arts – like graphic arts, it has two-flat
dimensional surface, such as painting, drawing,
photography and other products of printing
industry with the aid of computer and other
electronic devices.
5. Pop Art- This group is characterized as
gay and lively. It includes film, newspaper,
magazines, radio and television.
6. Gustatory Art of the Cuisine- This involves
skill in food preparation or food art.
7. Decorative Arts- They are visual
objects produced for aesthetic function for
houses, interior designs, offices, cars and
other structures.
 Philosophical Perspectives of Arts
What is Philosophy?

It conveys a variety of meanings. In field of study,

philosophy is about the general and fundamental questions about
existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language.
Sometimes, it is a way of expressing one principle in life and
deepest beliefs in life.
Philosophy presents philosophical theories of the
significance of art like imitation, beauty, originality, aesthetic
morality and imagination.
Art as Mimesis (Plato’s Theory of
Imitation)
- Plato can be considered as a great critic of
literature, philosopher, thinker, educationalist and
moralist. Plato’s view of reality explains that ideal
is true and arts are just imitation or copy of the
truth. For him, literature and poetry are not true –
they are imitations of the ideal.

- In his metaphysics, all things that exist in this

world are copies of the original. According to his
masterpiece, “The Republic”, ideas are the
ultimate reality, artists are imitators and arts are
pure imitation.
- Art was problematic for Plato because for him, all art
forms are imitative and replica of the idea. He
considered art as a dangerous means that will cause
total confusion and conflict to the society.
Art as Representation
(Aristotle’s Theory)

- Aristotle does not agree with Plato

regarding his theory about arts and
artists. However, Aristotle considered
art as an agent in Philosophy in
revealing truth.

- In his “Poetics,” Aristotle points out

that poetry is a literary representation.
Thus, every art form like music, dance,
painting and sculpture represents
possible versions of reality.
- Aristotle disapproves the idea of Plato that poetry
destroys the minds of the youth and that it leads to
weaker state of people or destroying the emotional state
of a person. This art form can arouse a certain emotion
like fear, pain pity and brings about healthy and
pleasurable experience.

- For Aristotle, not all kinds of art aim to represent reality

as it is, it endeavors to provide a version of what might
be or the myriad possibilities of reality.
 Art for Art’s Sake
(Immanuel Kant’s Theory)

- According to Immanuel Kant, there

is an autonomous aesthetic
standard in art. In his “Critique of
Judgment”, Kant recognized that
the judgment of beauty can be
universal despite its subjectivity.

- Art should be separated from other

considerations like morality,
function and pleasure.
- The argument raised in the theory “art for art’s sake”
is that any judgment in any art form should not focus
on the external purposes that satisfy people, like
moral aspect or political commentary. Instead, value
is intrinsically defined by the aesthetic impression.

- Art should stand independently and should be fee

from all scrutiny of other advantages; rather art
stands for beauty alone.
Art as a Communication of Emotion
(Leo Tolstoy’ Theory)
- According to Leo Tolstoy, art plays a huge
role in communication to its audience’s
emotions that the artist previously
experienced.
- In the same that language communications
information to other people, art communicates
emotion.
- As a purveyor of man’s innermost feelings
and thoughts, art is given a unique
opportunity to serve as a mechanism for social
unity.
- Art is central to man’s existence because it
makes accessible feelings and emotions of
people from the past and present.