SPA Chapter 1 Review

SPA 1

When reading Janet Wolff’s The Social Production of Art, I thought the main points or arguments that she was trying to make in chapter 1 were that practical activity and creativity are in a mutual relationship of interdependence with social structures and that artistic creativity is not different in any relevant way from other forms of creative action.

Other points:

• There is a separation of modern artist in a capitalistic society.
• Artist must be able to step outside of cultural norms and create outside of the mainstream.
• Being marginalized gives great perspective.
• The market now dictates what and how art is made, thus social structure influences art.
• Freedom is a myth, everything is predetermined and not all actions are done willingly.
• Innovation is understood as the practical outcome of a uniquely specific combination of structural determinants and conditions. (Fate-esq)

I thought that Janet Wolff assessment of how social structures influence art in our society was very interesting. As someone who is not really well versed in art or the culture of art, it was a new perspective. I always thought of artists as free individuals who were innovative and living outside of almost all social norms. I thought that their art was an expression of something from within either themselves or their vivid imaginations. Wolff adds on page 16 that art is no different from work and to me she is almost limiting the power of the artist and diminishing what distinguishes the artist and creator. Before reading this I would have never thought about how a shift in economics from earlier centuries would have played such a big role in influencing work either. While I found the reading hard to follow and kind of repetitive and dense, I can see that Wolff is trying to show us how social structure has interdependence with practical activity and creativity; this is what she says in her opening page.