Functions of Art

• In the Cordilleras, the gong or gangsa is used primarily to create a certain beat harmoniously in accord with the other cultural instruments.
• Venus of Willendorf, a prehistoric sculpture symbolizes the nurturing and support that mother-hood creates.
• Venus of Willendorf is fat, showing her abundant life-energy.
•  This sculpture of a so-called Venus–because of her exaggerated breasts and hips–was probably used as a fertility fetish.
• Fertility and hunting were essential components of survival during the nomadic, Paleolithic era. 
• Personal Function of art is used to communicate a thought
• Social function of art is used to express social values and beliefs
• Feldman(1967) states that art performs a social function when it influences the collective behavior of people.
• Artists may produce art to reinforce and enhance the shared sense of identity
• Spanish painter Francisco Goya (1746–1828) and English portrait artist William Hogarth (1697–1764) both went this route with varying degrees of success at motivating social change with their art.
• Comprador depicts two politicians in suits at the top of the composition with money passing through their outstretched hands.
• The politicians, one from the Philippines and the other from the United States, stand on the backs of the workers profiting from their labor. 
• Spiritual Function of art is used to express spiritual beliefs
• The term Pietà finds its roots in the Italian word for “pity” and the Latin word for “piety.
• Pieta depicts the Virgin Mary cradling the dead body of her son Jesus in her loving arms.
• The Pieta is a work of Renaissance sculpture housed in St. Peter’s Basilica, Vatican City. The statue was commissioned for the French Cardinal Jeane De Vilheres who was a representative in Rome.
• Arnel David Garcia’s highly provocative two-dimensional work (its width is three inches!) presents a myriad of faces of the Christ
• Faces” hover around the central details of Christ’s Passion and Sacrifice—the wounded hands and the nails of the Crucifixion.
• The Resurrection of Christ transitions humanity to salvation. God   Incarnate means universal elevation and redemption.
• Cultural Function of Art can reveal much about the culture in which it is created.
• ceramic artifacts generally coincides with the advent of a sedentary lifestyle that revolved around agriculture rather than a nomadic lifestyle
• pottery was discovered by accident when woven baskets were covered with mud to make them watertight.
• Our forefathers once used tattoos to express themselves; their bodies were the canvas, and the tattoos were their art.
• ethnic groups have been performing tattooing practice for centuries to mark their social status or accomplishments in the community, or as a symbol of beauty among women.
• the Spanish explorers first recorded natives covered in tattoos upon disembarking into one of the islands during the 16th century.
• The ancient Visayans, as well as the highland tribes of northern Luzon or Cordillerans, are known for their intricate art of tattooing.
• The Spaniards fought against the fierce Visayan warriors, whom they called pintados because most of their bodies were covered in elaborate tattoos intended to intimidate the rivals.
• The markings gradually increase in number depending on the number of battles one has had. Facial tattoos are reserved only for the most valiant and strongest warriors.
• At present, the ancient tattooing tradition of the Visayans and their warriors’ courage are celebrated annually during the Pintados Festival.
• Utilitarian Function or Physical Function of Art forms of art were and are created to be used.
• The utilitarianism in modern architecture rejects bourgeois details such as over-abundant decorative details in cornices and eaves.
• Utilitarianism honors the functionality of the building and space rather than the grandeur of ornamental purpose.
• The roots of utilitarian thinking in 21st century architecture could be traced back to the establishment of Bauhaus School by pioneer modern architect Walter Gropius in 1919, Germany
• A product of the post-World War II era, surplus jeeps were left to the Filipinos by American troops who stayed in the Philippines.
• The non-motivated purposes of art are those that are integral to being human, transcend the individual, or do not fulfill a specific external purpose.
• Basic human instinct for harmony, balance, rhythm. Art at this level is not an action or an object, but an internal appreciation of balance and harmony (beauty), and therefore an aspect of being human beyond utility.
• Experience of the mysterious. Art provides a way to experience one’s self in relation to the universe. This experience may often come unmotivated, as one appreciates art, music or poetry.
• Expression of the imagination. Art provides a means to express the imagination in non -grammatic ways that are not tied to the formality of spoken or written language. Unlike words, which come in sequences and each of which have a definite meaning, art provides a range of forms, symbols and ideas with meanings that are malleable.
• Jupiter’s eagle [as an example of art] is not, like logical (aesthetic) attributes of an object, the concept of the sublimity and majesty of creation, but rather something else – something that gives the imagination an incentive to spread its flight over a whole host of kindred representations that provoke more thought than admits of expression in a concept determined by words.
• Ritualistic and symbolic functions. In many cultures, art is used in rituals, performances and dances as a decoration or symbol.