Aa 5

SUBJECT
AND
CONTENT
The focus of this lesson are subject and content, while form will be discussed in
detail later on in another chapter. Generally, subject refers to the “what” of an
artwork. It denotes the topic, focus or image of the work of art. It can be a person, an
object, a theme or an idea. On the other hand, content is the “why” of an artwork
which indicates the artist’s intention, or the meaning behind the work. It can be the
intellectual message of an artwork, a statement, an expression, or mood developed
by the artist and interpreted by the observer. Finally, form signifies the “how” of the
work, which describes how the artwork has been developed or put together.
One has to understand that artists express themselves in many ways. They
might work in two dimensions with specific materials like paint or colored pencils or
they might weave textiles out of coconuts or carve sculptures out of Narra planks.
Whatever materials they choose to use, some artists create work that looks like things
we recognize — example, landscape scenes or portraits of people. However, other
artists create works that do not look like things we see in the real world. Have you
ever stood in front of a painting that was full of wobbly colorful lines or a sculpture
made of indistinct geometric shapes? This work can be challenging to appreciate, but
it helps if you understand certain ideas related to these different kinds of art.
Representational
Art
must represent something that we might see

in the real world. It should be identifiable as
a scene, objects or figures.
Non-
Representational
Art
consists of images that have no clear identity,

and must be interpreted by the viewer. Neither
does it look like things we can find in the real
world nor it includes images or shapes of
objects that we would recognize.
Sources of Subject
01 02 03 04
NATURE HISTORICAL MYTHOLOGY TRADITION
EVENTS
Kinds of
Subject
HISTORY
One better way to start creating an
art work is to look at the past. The
rich history of the Philippines has
been a foundation of monuments all
around the country — from national
heroes and former presidents of the
country, to specific societal
conditions during the colonial period
— many artists have been inspired to
create an artwork from historic
events.
STILL
LIFE
This subject contains inanimate or
non-living objects, which are
arranged in a location, usually set
indoors and contains at least a man-
made object such as a basket, vase,
or a bag. Examples include a basket
of fruits, a bundh of flowers in a
vase, or a bag of groceries. One
advantage of using this subject is its
availability and manageability.
FIGURES
This subject entails the use of a
model, usually a human figure
(clothed or not). However, it limits
art production because of the
availability of the model and the cost
that comes with it.
ANIMALS
The earliest paintings found in a
number of caves in Europe were
animals. Since man benefits from
hunting in the ancient times for
survival, his encounters with them
has become inevitable that even in
paintings or other works of art they
have become an interesting subject to
use.
NATURE
Nature as a subject in art covers
many aspects of our life such as our
emotional, spiritual, social, and
mental beings. Think about play time
in the mud, in the fields, take a
plunge in the rivers or in our man-
made pools, pick flowers for
decoration or strawberries berries to
eat. I
LANDSCAPE
The focus of this subject is the
natural scenery of various landforms,
which include mountains, cliffs,
forests, valleys, plains, plateau and
the like, where the main subject is a
wide view.
SEASCAPE &
CITYSCAPE
The emphases of seascape as a
subject are the water forms, which
include the ocean, see, river, brook,
pond, falls, etc. On the other hand,
cityscape as a subject is usually an
aerial view of a city or a portion of it.
MYTH &
MYTHOLOG
Y
Gods and Goddesses have certainly
influenced the life of the cities and of
individuals. Myth and mythology are
the ultimate source of classical
subjects in art, which can be
observed not only in Greek
sculptures in the early centuries, but
also in the Renaissance period.
DREAMS &
FANTASIES
These subjects depict an artwork
without a “real” frame story but as a
raw material to an artwork, they
represent the artist’s highest creative
potential by producing an original
work from these imageries. You may
be familiar with Alice in
Wonderland, a novel about a girl
named Alice who fell through a
rabbit hole into a fantasy world
where peculiar creatures live.
Content
in Art
As discussed earlier, subject and content are two different things. While the
former refers to the objects illustrated by the artist, content refers to what the artist
expresses or communicates in his artwork as a whole. Sometimes, it is referred to as
the “meaning" of the work. In literature, it is called the theme. In fact, it can be
defined as the “statement we apprehend or the feeling or mood we experience with
the work of art” (Feldman, 1967). Indicating the “what” of an artwork, content
reveals that attitude of the artist toward his subject.
To be able to realize the content, it must be emphasized in this lesson that the
subject matter may acquire different levels of meaning. Cleaver (1966) classifies them
as:
Factual
meaning:
This is the literal statement or the
narrative content in the work, which
can easily be captured because the
objects presented are effortlessly
recognized because of the
identifiable forms in the artwork.
This meaning is often complemented
by other levels of meaning.
Conventional
meaning:
This refers to the special meaning
that a certain object or color has for a
particular culture or group of people.
For instance, the flag is the given
symbol for a nation; the cross is a
Christian symbol of faith; the wheel
is the Buddhist symbol for the
teachings of Gautama Buddha.
Subjective
meaning:
This denotes any personal meaning
consciously or unconsciously
conveyed by the artist using a private
symbolism, which stems from his
own association of certain objects,
action, or colors with past
experiences. This can be fully
understood only when the artist
himself explains what he really
means, as in the case of the poems of
T.S. Eliot, where he provides
footnotes.
Indeed, there are artworks that are difficult to understand - no one, actually, can
be expected to understand without effort and study the meanings of many works of
art, especially those works about religion and mythology. To fully grasp the content of
works of art, one must learn as much as he or she can about the culture of the people
that produced them and maintain an open mind in considering various options to
appreciate and interpret art.

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SUBJECT

must represent something that we might see

consists of images that have no clear identity,

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