View Single Post
Old 11-30-2003, 04:57 PM   #101 (permalink)
phaedrus
Insane
 
Re: Re: Re: is this art? ::i hope i just didn't say that outloud::

Quote:
Originally posted by Mr Mephisto
The whole point here is that should be considered in its context, not simply the paint on the canvas. If that were not the case, artists like Pollack, Picasso, Mastisse, Kandinski, Milo etc would be thought of as simple "scribblers".

One has to consider what the artist is trying to say, what they want to communicate, the medium in which they work etc.

Some art may not appeal. Indeed, I don't like a lot of modern art myself (Damien Hirst is a good example), but that doesn't mean the artist is a con-man.
I supposed there are countless ways to examine art. For me there are two that matter. The first is on it's own merits, the second is the context in which it was created.

A cave man's paintings when compared to more sophisticated art (say a Rembrandt), would not so much be art on its own merits? But it is art in the context in which it was created. It was revolutionary. A major progression if you will. But would it be art if a modern (time, not style) artist were to go into a cave and paint a crude cow? My answer is no, yours might be yes. Art is always subjective.

So I look at that piece of blue. And I ask my self is it art on its own merits? I answer, no, it is just blue, a color test at best. Is it art based on the context of the time? No. It was not revolutionary. It was not that original. Perhaps the artist was trying to challenge our notion of art. Perhaps he was protesting war. Who knows, it could mean anything because it says nothing. We want it to have meaning, but it says nothing. So we can accept what the critic or artist say it means or we can stubbornly insist is means nothing because it says nothing. I am stubborn. It means nothing, it says nothing. It is neither pretty nor did it require great skill to make. It is a fraud.

Of course, art is always subjective. To me it is a fraud, to that museum's curator, it is art.

Quote:
Originally posted by Mr Mephisto
I don't suppose I will convince you though. :-)
Correct. Nor will I convince you.
phaedrus is offline  
 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360