I read some post on another sight that went like this -- "architects always seem to view themselves as artists, ironically while simultaneously holding low regard for art & artists."
Is this true? I am an artist. My brother is an architect.
"Architects are just artists that want to make their mothers happy." - Dave Hickey (MacArthur Genius, like Jeanne Gang)
If it matters, my husband is an artist, I'm an architect, and we both hold talented people in high regard whether they practice art or architecture or both or neither.
"architecture is the mother of all arts"....."the only art form you can physically walk through and peep into the history, culture, civilization,...etc....."
"Only a very small part of architecture belongs to art: the tomb and the monument. Everything else that fulfils a function is to be excluded from the domain of art."
-- Adolf Loos
I am a High School student who wants to become an Architect. I feel that Architects are Artists. Art is a very general idea. Many things can be considered art. It all depends on the person viewing it. While Architecture involves Science and Technology. One of the crucial aspcts of Architecture is design. Design=Art.
I think for the most part, the art has left the Architecture. Look around your office...just how many peoples desks actually show anything artistic or Architectural, for that manner. It has become a job...not a passion. You could walk into the office I work for, and not really tell what we do here...Most offices I have been to..that is the case...and therefore..it shows in what we see casting shadows....crap.
IMO, a fairly high proportion of architects choose to view themselves as artists, yet most have little ability (or interest, for that matter) to convince people who have money to buy into that art. For the most part, consumers of buildings are not interested in art so much as they are in functionality and efficiency.
It has been said here many times before in many different ways -- our education prepares us for a world that does not exist. The disconnect between our "dreams" and our "reality" is a never ending source of frustration.
Yeah but do architects hold "low regard for art & artists"? Probably doesn't matter.
On the other issue personally I don't think architecture is art, but I am not involved enough with architecture for the issue to even come up. But I love this response by Alice Rawthorne when asked if fashion is art:
You can't help wondering whether, if you asked Donna Karen 'Is fashion art?', her response would be the style slut's equivalent of former Liverpool manager Bill Shankley's proclamation: 'Some say football is a matter of life and death - I'd say it's much more important than that.'
That is just what my architect brother says about some artwork! He says, "That's bad art..." I think it is really totally interesting when he says this because it sounds architecturish to me. I have never heard an artist use that phrase. They say "Wow, totally fucking dumb..." or "Oops..." or "Shit, lets go". But there is never any categorization of good or bad art. I have always wondered where this comes from. I mean when my brother says "That's bad art." is it because designers say "Bad design" when referring to design stuff. Is there a "that's in, that's out" attitude in design? And if so, where does that come from? I see nothing wrong with any way someone talks about art or design and I love the differences, but I think it's true that architects and artists come at artwork from totally different worlds.
What I mean is, I feel that someone is wasting my valuable time and have dragged me down to their level for a brief moment and it ticks me off. My brother is content with a quick categorization. But have to say, I often feel that designers come to this "bad art" categorization much more quickly than artists. I try to find just one good thing about an artist's work and I usually can do just that. It is probably out of fear that I might not be seeing something. A fear I cultivated in critiques at grad school. I think it's a good way of approaching stuff.
Sorry about the generalizations and stereotypes by the way.
drawmore - architecture seems to draw a higher proportion of self-righteous people than other fields. It's a real problem (especially since we're supposed to design for other people) - I blame the fountainhead.
and I think when people refer to "bad design" it's usually because it doesn't function well - not because of how it looks.
Do you think architects think like this...?
I read some post on another sight that went like this -- "architects always seem to view themselves as artists, ironically while simultaneously holding low regard for art & artists."
Is this true? I am an artist. My brother is an architect.
no and no. i'm not an artist, i'm an architect
what's your bro think about'cha?
artistic qualities + pragmatic/functional results = architecture
how do you divide pragmatic by function?!?
haha it wasnt initially meant to be an equation. i meant it to read as pragmatic [and] function, i guess another plus would have sufficed.
"Architects are just artists that want to make their mothers happy." - Dave Hickey (MacArthur Genius, like Jeanne Gang)
If it matters, my husband is an artist, I'm an architect, and we both hold talented people in high regard whether they practice art or architecture or both or neither.
"architecture is the mother of all arts"....."the only art form you can physically walk through and peep into the history, culture, civilization,...etc....."
"Architecture is the art of how to waste space."
-- Philip Johnson
"Only a very small part of architecture belongs to art: the tomb and the monument. Everything else that fulfils a function is to be excluded from the domain of art."
-- Adolf Loos
I am a High School student who wants to become an Architect. I feel that Architects are Artists. Art is a very general idea. Many things can be considered art. It all depends on the person viewing it. While Architecture involves Science and Technology. One of the crucial aspcts of Architecture is design. Design=Art.
i think johnson is just describing his own work in that quote
I think for the most part, the art has left the Architecture. Look around your office...just how many peoples desks actually show anything artistic or Architectural, for that manner. It has become a job...not a passion. You could walk into the office I work for, and not really tell what we do here...Most offices I have been to..that is the case...and therefore..it shows in what we see casting shadows....crap.
IMO, a fairly high proportion of architects choose to view themselves as artists, yet most have little ability (or interest, for that matter) to convince people who have money to buy into that art. For the most part, consumers of buildings are not interested in art so much as they are in functionality and efficiency.
It has been said here many times before in many different ways -- our education prepares us for a world that does not exist. The disconnect between our "dreams" and our "reality" is a never ending source of frustration.
Yeah but do architects hold "low regard for art & artists"? Probably doesn't matter.
On the other issue personally I don't think architecture is art, but I am not involved enough with architecture for the issue to even come up. But I love this response by Alice Rawthorne when asked if fashion is art:
You can't help wondering whether, if you asked Donna Karen 'Is fashion art?', her response would be the style slut's equivalent of former Liverpool manager Bill Shankley's proclamation: 'Some say football is a matter of life and death - I'd say it's much more important than that.'
I don't think architects hold artists, or art, in contempt unless the art being produced is bad art.
@Quzzical--
That is just what my architect brother says about some artwork! He says, "That's bad art..." I think it is really totally interesting when he says this because it sounds architecturish to me. I have never heard an artist use that phrase. They say "Wow, totally fucking dumb..." or "Oops..." or "Shit, lets go". But there is never any categorization of good or bad art. I have always wondered where this comes from. I mean when my brother says "That's bad art." is it because designers say "Bad design" when referring to design stuff. Is there a "that's in, that's out" attitude in design? And if so, where does that come from? I see nothing wrong with any way someone talks about art or design and I love the differences, but I think it's true that architects and artists come at artwork from totally different worlds.
What I mean is, I feel that someone is wasting my valuable time and have dragged me down to their level for a brief moment and it ticks me off. My brother is content with a quick categorization. But have to say, I often feel that designers come to this "bad art" categorization much more quickly than artists. I try to find just one good thing about an artist's work and I usually can do just that. It is probably out of fear that I might not be seeing something. A fear I cultivated in critiques at grad school. I think it's a good way of approaching stuff.
Sorry about the generalizations and stereotypes by the way.
True Architecture is Art in the form of a structure.
Many professional architects don't always get the chance to express this and just become part of a design process for buildings owners.
drawmore - architecture seems to draw a higher proportion of self-righteous people than other fields. It's a real problem (especially since we're supposed to design for other people) - I blame the fountainhead.
and I think when people refer to "bad design" it's usually because it doesn't function well - not because of how it looks.
Museum of Bad Art
architects are just jealous that artists don't have to answer to clients.
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