Passage1Throughout history artists havekilled many different roles, but their value and importance to society havestayed basically the same. To begin with, artists fill a practical function,designing virtually every structure and object in the environment. Today thispractical role is carried out by artists with specialized, often technicaltraining-industrial and graphic designers, architects, craft artists, andfashion designers, among others. But what about the painters and sculptors, thephotographers and cinematographers (电影摄影师)? What needs do they meet in our computerage? We can identify at least four basic functions for the artist- all of themage-old, all expanding in complexity.First, artists record. They giveus visual images that can be preserved for historical reference. This idea isso obvious that we take it for granted, forgetting how overwhelming ourignorance otherwise would be. Were it not for artists, we would have no ideawhat people from the past looked like. Nor could we form any visual image ofhistorical places and s. Before the invention of the camera in the early19th century, artists recorded images mainly through painting, drawing, andsculpture. Today we rely more heavily on photography, cinema, and television tokeep our history, but of course the people behind these media are also artists.Even with the prevalence of mechanical recording, there remains interest in thepainted impression, the artist's distinctive filtering of visual appearances.The second thing artists do is togive tangible form to the unknown. In other words, they attempt to record whatcannot be seen with the eyes or what has not yet occurred. This role has beenimportant throughout the history of art, and it is no less vital today. Ancientartists had a somewhat different list of unknowns to contend with. They puzzledover and feared such things as tornadoes, floods, eclipses, and the wrath ofspirits. Even in an age when satellites predict the weather and spirits havebeen tamed, there still are certain unknowns, and artists still are strugglingto give them tangible form. What would a nuclear holocaust be like? We do notknow and dare not find out. What exists at the edge of our universe? Scientistswill know ually, but not soon. What do our dreams and nightmares reallymean? None of us can yze them definitely. These unknowns are frightening tous, just as the Thunder God must have been to our ancestors.Third, artists give tangible formto feelings. These may be the artist's own feelings that are expressed in paintor marble or whatever the medium. But surely they are feelings shared by manypeople- love, hate, despair, fear, exhilaration, anger. When we pay attentionto the emotions a work of art evokes, we are communicating with the artist andwith others who have such feelings.Fourth, artists offer aninnovative way of seeing, a unique visual “take" on the world. At a glanceRene Magritte's. The Blank cheque seems a straightforward picture of a womanriding a horse through the forest. A closer look reveals the sort of bizarrevisual disruption in which Magrite delighted. Parts of the figures are hiddenby trees, but other parts are hidden by the space between trees! The horse'sleft rear leg comes and goes, defying all natural laws. This is truly aninnovative way of seeing forms in space.To sum up, then, artists performat least four important functions: they record, they visualize the unknown,they portray feelings, and they stretch one's ability to see. All thesefunctions have to do with communication. Artists are about to fill these rolesbecause they create new visual images. In what way do artists offer a unique visual “take' on the world?