 Visual Arts

Visual arts are art forms such as painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics,
photography, video, filmmaking, design, crafts and architecture. Many artistic disciplines
such as performing arts, conceptual art, and textile arts also involve aspects of visual arts as
well as arts of other types.

Purposes of Visual Arts

There are five purposes for visual art: Ceremonial, Artistic Expression, Narrative,
Functional and Persuasive.
1. Ceremonial
- Ceremonial art is made to celebrate or commemorate something important in the
culture, in ritual or worship, or in personal life.

“The Last Supper”

By Leonardo Da Vinci

“Blood Compact”
By Juan Luna

Bulul Ceremonial Textile Priest of Anubis

Chimú Style
2. Artistic Expression
Art created for Artistic Expression focuses on the artist most of all, for it is a self-
expression of the artist’s personal, internal emotions, feelings, experiences or ideas. This
type of art is sometimes, but not always, abstract or nonobjective.

“The Masters of Augusta” “The Starry Night”

By Rick Rush, 1997 by Vincent Van Gogh

“Intone, O my Servant, the verses of God.”

by an artist from Almaty, Kazakhstan

3. Narrative
Narrative art tells a story or makes a point. Some communities commission narrative
murals for buildings or walls to depict stories from local history. Narrative art describes or
illustrates experiences, documents important or historical events, or communicates ideas
or information.

“The Peasant Wedding” “Frontliners and Superheroes”

by Pieter Bruegel by Juanito Torres
4. Functional
Functional art seeks to beautify objects that are useful in everyday life. Many of the
objects we use – including pottery, quilts, baskets, furniture (serve a useful purpose) but
are also designed or decorated in a way that is artistically pleasing.

Manunggul Jar Zhangzhou Ware

San Juan , La Union Pottery Bamboo Crafts

5. Persuasive
Persuasive artworks promote ideas, philosophies or products. Advertising, marketing,
propaganda and visual messages of ideology fall into this category.

“Femme Beninoise 1”
by Silvere Lougoudou

Editorial
Cartoon
 Subject Matter
What can art be about?
Think of all the types of subjects you have seen in paintings, photographs, sculptures.
You have probably seen examples of landscapes, portraits, still life, abstract images, and even
non-objective subject matter.

 Two Kinds of Art as to Subject

- Representational Art
- Non-representational Art

A. Representational Art

Representational art describes artworks – particularly paintings and sculptures – that

are clearly derived from real object sources, and therefore are by definition representing
something with strong visual references to the real world. Most, but not all, abstract art
is based on imagery from the real world.

1. Still Life
It is a work of art depicting mostly inanimate subject matter, typically
commonplace objects which may be either natural (food, flowers, plants, rocks,
or shells) or man-made (drinking glasses, books, vases, jewelry, coins, pipes, and
so on) in an artificial setting.

“Tropical Fruits” “Man with Hat”

by Fernando Amorsolo by Fernando Amorsolo

How do you start a painting step by step?

1. Sketch the Composition. Create a quick, loose brush sketch.

2. Begin Blocking In the Transparent Colors.
3. Define the Shapes and Paint the Sky.
4. Add a Figure, Define the Shadows and Flesh Out the Foliage and Reflections.
5. Continue Building and Modeling the Shapes.
6. Add Final Details.
2. Portraiture (portrait)

It is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in

which the face and its expression is predominant.

Paintings

Drawings

Photography

Sculpture
 Step-by-step guide to drawing a portrait in pencil
1. Plan with thumbnails. Planning is the first step in any long effort, be it drawing or
painting.
2. Plan out the head.
3. Make an initial drawing.
4. Introduce tone.
5. Push the shadows.
6. Focus on the eyes.
7. Develop the nose.
8. Open the mouth.
9. Finishing touches.
3. Landscape

A landscape painting or drawing refers to an artwork whose primary focus is

natural scenery, such as mountains, forests, cliffs, trees, rivers, valleys, etc.

Cityscape
Cityscape painting or Urban Landscape Painting is an art that depends on city scenes
and their elements such as streets, buildings, types, composition and other city
elements.

Seascape
A seascape painting is simply a work of art in which the ocean or major body of water
is one of the central elements of the work.

Moonscape
A moonscape is an area or vista of the lunar landscape (generally of the Earth's moon),
or a visual representation of this, such as in a painting.
 4. History and Culture

“Sinnilek”
by Aramid Ima (Donnie Milano)

A. Non-Representational Art
These are artworks that do not refer to the real world. It is limited to the visual
elements such as shapes, lines and colors that are employed to translate a
particular feeling, emotion and idea or concept.
 Methods of Presenting a Subject
1. Realism
The attempt to portray the subject as it is.
Realism, in the arts, the accurate, detailed, unembellished depiction of nature or of
contemporary life. Realism rejects imaginative idealization in favor of a close
observation of outward appearances. As such, realism in its broad sense has
comprised many artistic currents in different civilizations.

“Planting Rice” by Fernando Amorsolo

“Tampuhan” by Juan Luna

2. Abstraction (move away)

In abstract art, the artist does not show the subject at all as an objectively reality, but
only his idea, or his feeling about it (exaggerated emotionalism). It is all about what
the artists feel and what mood they might want to portray. Abstract art is all shapes,
no real-life images, scenery, or objects.

Art by Architect Rodel Rillera of La Union

  Abstraction can be presented in many ways:
a. Distortion

b. Elongation

c. Mangling

d. Cubism

3. Symbolism
 Symbolism systematically uses symbols to concentrate or intensify
meaning, making the work of art more subjective (rather than objective) and
conventional.

It is often used to convey hidden meanings and messages to viewers. As

well as video and literature, it also provides a great
deal of depth to artwork, from specific use of colors
to characters to themes.

4. Fauvism

Also called as the “wild beasts” in the early 20th century art.

This artwork is characterized by strong colors.

To a fauvist, for example, a tree trunk need not be brown. It could be bright
red, purple or any other color.

5. Futurism

Futurism was presented as a modernist movement celebrating the

technological, future era. The car, the plane, the industrial town were
representing the motion in modern life and the technological triumph of man
over nature.

6. Dadaism
 The term “dada” is a French word, which means a “hobby-horse.” With this etymology,
we could say that Dadaism is system of art which is per se “non- sensical.” Some
would say it is not an art because it strives to have no meaning at all.

7. Surrealism (super realism)

It focuses on real things found in the imagination or fantasy or it has realistic

subjects that are found in the unconscious mind; depicting dreamlike images
of the inner mind. This attempts to show what is inside a person’s mind as well
as the appearance of the outside world.