We explain what an artistic expression is, what types exist, the characteristics of each one and their importance.
What are artistic expressions?
Artistic expression is the use of art and artistic procedures as a way towards the exploration, communication and manifestation of the psychic content of an individual, that is, of her emotional, psychological and cultural world.
In other words, every form of known art constitutes an artistic expression: the painter, the writer, the composer or the performer, through their respective procedures, give shape to an inner reality, their inner world, and translate it into paintings, stories, melodies or interpretations of different kinds, so that the public can appreciate it and can connect, through it, with their own inner worlds.
Although consecrated art is a matter for professional artists, artistic expression, on the other hand, is within the reach of anyone. In other words, anyone can go to the different known artistic procedures and explore their inner world, without the aspiration of producing art and becoming famous, but rather of knowing themselves better and expressing themselves freely.
Hence, art has traditionally been understood in terms of "expressiveness": artists have the task of expressing something, even when they do not know what exactly, and therefore those who produce plays "more expressive" will always be considered better artists.
Paradoxically, there is no consensus about what it is to express, much less what kind of things artists express with their works, or why some works are considered more expressive than others at a given historical moment. Disciplines such as psychoanalysis, for example, point out that what is expressed is the formless content of the mind, that is, the very thing that dreams are made of.
Artistic expression is a traditional part of study curricula in schools. Thus, it is possible to identify artistic geniuses. But in addition, children are given the opportunity to express freely, using paints, clay or simply the word, certain ideas, sensations and emotions that otherwise they would look for more dangerous or harmful escape routes, making self-knowledge more complicated.
Types of artistic expression
In general, the following types of artistic expression are known:
- pictorial plastic expression. The application of pigments and coloring substances to a surface (a canvas, a sheet of paper, etc.) to produce an original design. They can be figurative images (that is, recognizable) or abstract (no apparent shape).
- Sculptural plastic expression. Using the hands and other appropriate instruments, moldable materials are shaped, such as clay, plasticine, flexible dough or plaster, to name a few, and then allowed to dry and harden, thus obtaining sculptures of different type.
- music expression. Sounds are obtained through musical instruments harmonics each other, that compose melodies and evoke feelings or impressions. This can even be achieved without the instruments, using the human body and voice.
- literary expression. It consists of the use of word to compose stories and/or poems, using its own sonority, but also its meaning, through metaphors, similes and other rhetorical devices.
- Body expression. Whether to the rhythm of music, staging plays or putting mime into practice, different forms of movement are practiced, which allow expression with or without the use of language. The idea is to get carried away by the body's own logic.
- other forms of expression. Any other art, greater or lesser, allows the expression of content. techniques from the collage, digital art, Photography, the cinema or animation are valid as a method of exploring the internal world.
Importance of artistic expression
Prehistoric man already sought to express objective or subjective experiences.
Artistic expression is one of the main ways of manifesting the internal world, through content that is also aesthetically appreciable. This means that a person can free himself from conscious thoughts for a period of time and freely explore the subjectivity of it through artistic techniques.
In this way, it is possible to create content that other people can see, appreciate and even identify with. This is what happens when we go to a museum: the works on display question us, speak to us, reflect us in some way and we can establish a dialogue with them.
In addition, artistic expression is an activity of the human being, one of the oldest known. Prehistoric man already felt the need to express objective or subjective experiences by drawing his hands on the walls of caves, or decorating his own body with bones, stones and fragments of wood, and surely with his own musical forms, unknown today.
Artistic expression connects us with the inner world, in the same way that dreams do.In this way we can face our internal creatures and landscapes, a reflection of all that that dwells in the depths of our minds and that psychoanalysis baptized as “drives”.