How are you affected by art

[DvlsAdv0c8]

Originally Posted by SquarePeg

ok here´s this weird thing. Firstly I am not creative at all in any way but when I see live art I sometimes feel so overwhelmed that I can´t cope and have to stop looking.
...
Same with live music, I used to see bands all the time and they made me feel so alive, but as an adult it really overwhelms me, it makes me feel to much...

This is like what I mean by a strong, sudden reaction taking my breath away and bringing on tears - sometimes it's not appropriate to the situation. Like SquarePeg says, it's overwhelming and for me quite sudden, almost like something "jumped" into my brain from somewhere else.

I don't know how many of you guys have cried hard enough to lose your breath, but it's like suddenly popping into the middle of a crying jag that intense without building up to it. Just suddenly being there. Generally it's just a sharp intake of breath and sudden welling of tears before I am able to cut that part of it off. The feeling is so strong I sometimes have to go collect myself, even cry it out, until the feeling passes (usually within a matter of minutes).

And I'm not sad or upset in any way, just a little moved by something I heard or saw or read. Or just plain happy. Usually it's actually a happy or positive thing that causes it.

Thank goodness it doesn't happen often, and it usually comes out of nowhere (and is not PMS related either - it can happen at anytime).

[MX2012]

I love the architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright. I got to see his tree of life window in a museum and it made me cry with joy.

While I like music, the only time that music touched me deeply was once when I was coming up the subway escalator in the city and strains of music were floating down the stairs, I stopped in my tracks. It was like I was hit in the gut. When I got to the top of the stairs, there was an elderly Asian man playing a string instrument. It was melodic and haunting. Luckily, the musician had made a CD and I bought one.

I do love music, art and creative endeavors like plays and dance. I enjoy them, they can be inspirational but rarely have I been as touched.

[ana futura]

I'm really particular about art, in ways that don't make a lot of sense. I have an art degree, so I'm pretty knowledgable, but I have to restrain myself from having knee jerk reactions about things. I'm just super judgemental. I'll summarily dismiss things as crap, but there's no logic behind my dismissal.

Like- I LOVE Morris Lewis, Barnett Newman, Mark Rothko. From the moment I first saw their paintings in person, they just blew my mind. But I really don't like a lot of Helen Frankenthaler and I HATE Willem de Kooning. To a person who is not educated about modern art, all of these painters would appear very similar- they're just painted shapes on canvas! For reasons I do not know, I have very visceral reactions to all of them. I am very weird about brush stroke- there are brush strokes I like, and brush strokes I don't like.

I've also had total turn arounds about artists- hating them at first, then changing my mind, and vice versa.

Interestingly, medication sometimes makes me pay more attention to work I used to dismiss. I had an experience where I was just totally moved by this very small wooden pot- something I normally would have not been interested in. I think meds make me more able to appreciate subtlety.

[ana futura]

Originally Posted by MX2012

When I got to the top of the stairs, there was an elderly Asian man playing a string instrument. It was melodic and haunting.

String instruments (especially violins) really move me. So does percussion. I really don't care for horns much (Especially saxophone, I can't stand anything played on a saxophone)

[Targaryen]

Originally Posted by Assumption

I get that a lot with music drama but I think I've never had it with any visual art. That scene in Highlander, where Connor says goodbye to his wife Heather, with Freddy Mercury singing Who Wants to Live Forever in the background... so sad and beautiful. OK, I know that movie isn't considered the height of culture, but it gets me every time

The Van Gogh was interesting. I like interesting textures. But I don't think even the real thing in person would hold my attention for very long. I think I'd say "cool!" and then be impatient for whoever I was with to hurry up and move to the next one. :P

There can be only one

Music and art can have strong affect on me sometimes putting me in an altered state. Going to a concert (I always go sober) is great especially ones that have visual components to go along with the music. It's like my mind really gets into a state of super hyper-focus that can be very intense even when not taking any ADD medications.

[pooka]

Literature, movies, and music really hit me emotionally. Especially books and poems. I cry while reading or watching a movie if it's sad. I often keep thinking about the story long after it's over. My favorite part of music is lyrics, but I also enjoy some non-lyrical music.

Paintings and visual stuff, on the other hand I find a complete bore. I can appreciate the art in a technical way - like I can see the work and talent that went into it, and recognize the beauty, but I don't find it inspiring or emotional at all. I do like photography, but mostly because I like to imagine the story of the moment captured in the photo.

I consider myself creative because my passion is creative writing, but I just cannot force myself to like the visual arts no matter how much I would like to. And believe me, I would love to be all cultured and stuff. I'm just extremely verbal and not at all visual - the closest I get to being affected by visual stuff is the fact that I love fashion.

[Flory]

a quiet and peaceful art museum is a bad place for a loud, annoying and clumsy Flory...im not someone that can stare at a painting for hours, i like to; look, enjoy & move on..same in museums, garden show type things...my school used to ban me from outings due to behavioural problems wahh, i think because of my irlens things can be jarring to my eyes as well, particularly certain colours and prints

music on the other hand is perfect for me...you will find me by the speaker jumping my heart out

[ana futura]

Originally Posted by pooka

My favorite part of music is lyrics, but I also enjoy some non-lyrical music...

I'm just extremely verbal and not at all visual - the closest I get to being affected by visual stuff is the fact that I love fashion.

I'm very visual, and not very verbal. I usually could care less about the lyrics to music, I never listen to them, I just interested in the "sound".

Originally Posted by SquarePeg

tipoo, yes I think me to with Van Gogh but not prints, has to be the real thing.

I used to dislike Van Gough- too many brush strokes! I've come around on him though, I like some of his stuff quite a bit now. It will never move me like a Rothko though, which I admit is basically just a huge canvas with colored squares. Prints ruin everything- I have to see paintings in person.

I have very strong reactions to particular colors too.

[Conman]

art's cool. i like some of it. but i have yet to find a piece that actually brings out certain emotions or other such feelings from me

[ana futura]

Originally Posted by Conman

art's cool. i like some of it. but i have yet to find a piece that actually brings out certain emotions or other such feelings from me

Even in person? I only react emotionally to art when I see it in person.

[Assumption]

Originally Posted by ana futura

To a person who is not educated about modern art, all of these painters would appear very similar- they're just painted shapes on canvas!

I am one of these people you refer to. I googled some work by those artists and here's a theory - The work by the first 3 authors (at least, the stuff that popped up on google for me) involves a lot more straight lines than the other 2.

[ana futura]

Originally Posted by Assumption

I am one of these people you refer to. I googled some work by those artists and here's a theory - The work by the first 3 authors (at least, the stuff that popped up on google for me) involves a lot more straight lines than the other 2.

Yeah, I've actually thought about it a lot. There is a "logic" to what I like and don't like, but I don't know why these preferences developed. I do prefer ordered straight lines, and I also have a preference for washed out muted colors and bold dark colors.

Google Clyfford Still, Robert Motherwell, and Jackson Pollock, I like them all as well. Let me know what you think.

I also tend to like my portraiture to look "lifeless"- muted and static. I don't like vibrant or expressive portraiture that much. Romaine Brooks is one of my favorite painters. Look at this, her subjects look dead http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ro..._of_France.jpg I love it. I tend not to like things that people describe as "expressive" or "full of life", yet sometimes I do (like Pollock)

But then I think every painter I mentioned is "expressive". I love Caravaggio, and Edward Hopper- I think both paint in a very emotive way, yet they are also restrained.

Every painter I mentioned, I think simplicity is what they share. There is directness, and often a sadness. I don't really like "happy" art.

Here's a Rothko quote, I love it-
"We favor the simple expression of the complex thought. We are for the large shape because it has the impact of the unequivocal. We wish to reassert the picture plane. We are for flat forms because they destroy illusion and reveal truth."

A little over the top, but I do really identify with the "simple expression of the complex thought" and I really get that from his work.

[Conman]

i have yet to visit the Chicago Art Museum, although i really want to, maybe i'll do it next summer. the only art i have seen in person is by unknown artists and modern artists who do surrealism or abstract

[Drewbacca]

Originally Posted by Conman

i have yet to visit the Chicago Art Museum, although i really want to, maybe i'll do it next summer. the only art i have seen in person is by unknown artists and modern artists who do surrealism or abstract

Let me know when and I'll try to meet you there!

[Geno]

As far as visual art goes, I enjoy it on rare occasions. I LOVE seeing natural beauty though. Like fall colors, or walking through the woods in april-may seeing the flowers and buds and little leaves growing on the trees. Visual art doesn't usually do much for me, but natural beauty can have me in awe.