The Arts allows us to gain a deeper understanding of other people’s interpretations and perceptions of the world and it’s events in a way that Maths and Science would never be able to.

Believe that all 3 of these subjects serve distinct separate purposes where Art is to entertain, shock and generally both display and invoke emotions, Maths is to make sense of the world around us intern of numbers whereas Science is to explore and understand everything we see in our lives and everything we don’t. This is not to say that the areas don’t overlap; one can easily find beauty in Science and Maths especially as it studies the natural world something which the majority of people find beautiful, however, Art doesn’t have to be beautiful or pleasant at times it displays the artist’s emotions and anguish through it not being visually appealing in the standard ways a startling representation of the realities of war and brutality such as Guernica would never occur when researching Science or Maths, unlike the simple beauty of a flower or a starry night sky.

What Scientist or Mathematicians study may be directly linked to current events, for example, chemical weapons or artillery during a war and Mathematicians may be dedication gather time to breaking down the enemies code, but other than the general if they are developing or combatting these aspects they must be pro-war or defending their country there is no interpretation or perception of the world or it’s events involved in the Scientific Method or the meticulous strategy Mathematicians use. In these subjects especially Science they function best when they are devoid of emotion and heavy influence from an individual. Art however or at least what I believe is good Art aims to invoke emotions in their viewer and display the artist or a factions perceptions of reality (Guernica for example if we’re sticking with the war example), filling in the gaps left behind by Science and Maths.

The Arts seek to make us reconsider the motives of and question authority and whether it’s values and ethics coincide with ours (particularly political Art).

This Conceptual Understanding is most relevant to political Art or pieces that aim to showcase the flaws or open people’s eyes to the realities of society as a whole. The purpose of this Art is not too please our eyes and brighten up the living room, its purpose is to shock us, to force us to think or as one of the videos we watched in the class said Art should “ rip away the scar tissue [of everyday life] and make us bleed”. An example I have for one of these pieces is the song Thoughts and Prayers by grandson which is in response to the Florida school shooting specifically and the lack of action taken by politicians and officials after any mass-shooting due to lobbyists and ties to the NRA or as the song says “money is the motive”. Another example of a song that aims to display the flaws and make people think instead of just  typing thoughts and prayers out of habit rather than anything else, and then letting the incident slip from the front of their minds would be This is America by Childish Gambino which is in protest to once again the shootings that have occurred and the racism felt by the African American community.

Through this Art forces us to at least on a subconscious level to consider if what we are being told, the action or lack of being taken or the legislation being passed etc. is really in line with our personal values and beliefs, and therefore can inspire change.

The Arts allows us to experience more of life than we ever would physically be able to without it, through the use of both personal and shared knowledge.

Physically, there are only so many places we can go to, only so many experiences we can have. Socially being born in one race or class generally means we cannot experience the trials and tribulations of other classes or races even if we know about them, Mentally there is only so much we are willing and capable of doing in our lives. All three of thee aspects form our lives and our experiences to some extent and all three of them limit us and our access to everything this world has to offer and our understanding of the people surrounding us. Art, however, can to some extent share the experiences of others, it is one thing to know racism exists it is another to see or get a sense of the emotions experienced by those who face these issues. For example A Tale of Two Hoodies by Michael D’Antuono. This experience not only broadens our horizons as individuals but helps foster change as it is a lot easier to understand others problems when you can follow their thought process and what has brought them to this point which is impossible with nothing but cold hard facts.