What is art? Surely if you went out and asked
people what they thought the definition of art was,
they all would give you a different answer. What
art is to one person, might not be considered art to
someone else. It all depends on how you view the
world around you.
There probably isn't a better example of this than
street or public art. Art that can be viewed
anywhere, at anytime, by anyone out in everyday
life comes in many shapes, sizes, and mediums just
like the art that you would go to pay to see in a
museum. Graffiti is probably the first thing people
think of when someone says street art. However,
Sculptures in the park, or street artists painting on
the sidewalk are all works of art that fit into this
catagory. For the most part, people like to consider
works of art to be done by artists who had formal
training and many years of experience; they want
art to be structured and organized. While graffiti is
considered art to some people, it is considered to be
vandalism to others. The question is can we
consider street or public art works of art?
The yellow, blue, and white sphere-like sculptures
in Millennium Park definitely fall under the
catagory of public art. What is interesting about
them is they are on display for anyone to see but
they are enclosed somewhat, by a thin railing just
as they would be if they were inside a museum.
The sculptures, like I said before, are in the shape
of a sphere but in a unique way. They are round
just like a sphere however, the tops, bottoms, and
sides of these sculptures twist, turn, and wind
together to create a completely different sphere-like
sculpture than the one next to it.
When someone walks up to a piece of art and
stands there to look at it, they don't necessarily
understand the meaning behind it.They stand
there and think to themselves well, the artist must
have had an idea in their mind when working on
this piece and although I don't understand the
meaning behind it, it is definitely an interesting and
unique piece of work to look at. It therefore, must
be art.
The sphere-like sculputures that can be seen in
Millennium park were definitely put there for
people to look at and enjoy. A lot of planning and
organization was put into creating, and getting
them into the particular area that they are situated
in now. The problem that a lot of people have with
public art like graffiti, and why the question of is it
art comes into play, is because a lot of graffiti
artists choose to put their art on public spaces that
do not belong to them. This makes the act of doing
graffiti a deviant one.
What can be said of the sphere-like sculptures at
Millennium park is that it is obvious they were put
there for people to look at and enjoy as public
works of art. Being that the Art Institute is right
next door, gives the impression that it would not be
uncommon to see such works of art in that area. In
fact, many different art pieces can be seen near and
around Millennium Park. The thing that we can
take away from all of this is that art is really
without definition. It all depends on the type of
person you are.
