Art as a Culture

Lascaux Caves

In my opinion the cave artists in the Lascaux were trying to dictate what they saw in their everyday lives. I think that early humans were fascinated by other animals. Horses, buffalo, cows they can all be seen and strong, resilient and powerful. But they can also mean survival for humans; meat for food, hide for shelter or ivory for tools. That they had more technology than originally thought. In order to paint the high wall and ceilings it is believed that these "caveman" used a form of scaffolding in order to reach these areas. Also, some painting have been discovered deep into caves where no natural light can reach, suggesting the use of fire torches for light.

These early cave dwellers could have gotten lost in caves with long tunnels. Paintings are found on high ceilings and walls, meaning the artists found a way to scale the cave walls. They lacked the readiness of modern paint and brushes, everything would need to be made by hand from natural substances. The lack of light in cave also poses a problem, and then the need or torches and portable light begin appearing.


The first possible function of early art is to tell a story, maybe cultural or moral. A second function could be to retain a memory, like taking notes, maybe the paintings were meant to be a guide to the natural wildlife. A third could be for entertainment, there are a lot of paintings of the same animals over and over again, the artist could have been doing this as a way of entertaining himself or others.


Art can often tell a story, it can make you feel happy or sad. Art is all about perspective and taking something ordinary like a cave wall or a woman face and making it something exceptional and beautiful. 

My favorite art is make-up, I have been a make-up artist for 6 years. There are a few function to make-up artistry; building a persons confidence, transformation for a character, selling a product or just for the fun of the art. Most usually a make-up artist is trying to communicate their best version of a person or character.


I wouldn't classify make-up artistry as being a part of a particular culture, sub-culture perhaps, the beauty industry. Like a lot of industry's, beauty attracts a certain type of person or artist. Most usually flamboyant, shallow and also gifted and eccentric types.


A persons self confidence can be drastically changed by cosmetics; both for the better and the worst. Once I was working with a mother who had burn scars on her forehead and down the side of her face. After some careful manipulation and an eyebrow pencil it was as if the scars had never been there, the woman was beside herself and said she has never felt more beautiful. On the other hand photoshop and celebrities have given us this illusion of unobtainable perfection that can be detrimental to society.