Looking high and low : art and cultural identity

Book

Looking high and low : art and cultural identity / edited by Brenda Jo Bright and Liza Bakewell.

Bright, Brenda Jo, 1955- (Added Author). Bakewell, Elizabeth. (Added Author).

Summary:

Can low riders rightfully be considered art? Why are Chicano murals considered art while graffiti is considered vandalism? What do Native American artisans think about the popular display of their ceremonial objects? How do the "middlebrow" notions of Getty workers influence "highbrow" values at the J. Paul Getty Trust? Looking High and Low attempts to answer these questions - and the broader question "What is art?"--By bringing together a collection of challenging essays on the meaning of art in cultural context and on the ways that our understandings of art and aesthetics have been influenced by social process and cultural values. This volume challenges conventional modes of analyzing art. Its ethnographic explorations illuminate the importance of art as a cultural force while creating a greater awareness of the roles that scholars, museum curators, and critics play in the evaluation of art.

Record details

ISBN: 0816513112
ISBN: 9780816513116
ISBN: 0816515166
ISBN: 9780816515165
Physical Description: 210 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
Publisher: Tucson, AZ : University of Arizona Press, ©1995.

Content descriptions

Bibliography, etc. Note:: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Formatted Contents Note:: Introduction. Art hierarchies, cultural boundaries, and reflexive analysis / Brenda Jo Bright -- Bellas artes and artes populares : the implications of difference in the Mexico City art world / Liza Bakewell -- Space, power, and youth culture : Mexican American graffiti and Chicano murals in East Los Angeles, 1972-1978 / Marcos Sanchez-Tranquilino -- Remappings : Los Angeles low riders / Brenda Jo Bright -- Marketing Maria : the tribal artist in the age of mechanical reproduction / Barbara A. Babcock -- Aesthetics and politics : Zuni War God repatriation and kachina representation / Barbara Tedlock -- Middlebrow into highbrow at the J. Paul Getty Trust, Los Angeles / George E. Marcus.