What is Art?

[chloew]

What is not art? Any object or thing can be considered art, but what things are not art?

A chair. It serves a purpose. It was made for someone to sit on and it serves that function. It can also be considered art by some.

So art is the intrinsic value or expression of an object disregarding any other function or purpose that it serves.

[Gordon]

To follow in the footsteps of Duchamp, art is whatever you say it is and anything you call art, is.

[johnastovall]

I ran across some of Susan Sontag's quotes on Photography and thought I would share them here as they go along with some of the threads on "ART."

A family's photograph album is generally about the extended family and, often, is all that remains of it.

In America, the photographer is not simply the person who records the past, but the one who invents it.

It seems positively unnatural to travel without taking a camera along... The very activity of taking pictures is soothing and assuages general feelings of disorientation that are likely to be exacerbated by travel.

Life is not significant details, illuminated by a flash, fixed forever. Photographs are.

The camera makes everyone a tourist in other people's reality, and eventually in one's own. (my favorite)

To take a photograph is to participate in another person's mortality, vulnerability, mutability. Precisely by slicing out this moment and freezing it, all photographs testify to time's relentless melt.

Travel becomes a strategy for accumulating photographs.

Using a camera appeases the anxiety which the work-driven feel about not working when they are on vacation and supposed to be having fun. They have something to do that is like a friendly imitation of work: they can take pictures.

Other quotes on art, love, sex, history and cancer can be seen here.

http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/au...an_sontag.html

[eurotrash]

Originally Posted by johnastovall

I ran across some of Susan Sontag's quotes on Photography and thought I would share them here as they go along with some of the threads on "ART."

A family's photograph album is generally about the extended family and, often, is all that remains of it.

In America, the photographer is not simply the person who records the past, but the one who invents it.

It seems positively unnatural to travel without taking a camera along... The very activity of taking pictures is soothing and assuages general feelings of disorientation that are likely to be exacerbated by travel.

Life is not significant details, illuminated by a flash, fixed forever. Photographs are.

The camera makes everyone a tourist in other people's reality, and eventually in one's own. (my favorite)

To take a photograph is to participate in another person's mortality, vulnerability, mutability. Precisely by slicing out this moment and freezing it, all photographs testify to time's relentless melt.

Travel becomes a strategy for accumulating photographs.

Using a camera appeases the anxiety which the work-driven feel about not working when they are on vacation and supposed to be having fun. They have something to do that is like a friendly imitation of work: they can take pictures.

sontag's parallels with Plato and Aristotle are amazing. good reads.

[johnastovall]

Claes Oldenberg has some idea of what art isn't.

"I am for an art that is political-erotical-mystical, that does something other than sit on its ass in a museum."

Claes Oldenberg, 1961

[eurotrash]

WHAT IS ART?? BABY DONT HURT MEEEEEE DONT HURT MEEEE NO MORE!!! k

[Holly]

eurotrash
What Is Artttt?? Baby Dont Hurt Meee Dont Hurt Mee No Moree!

lmao...that damn song has been in my head ALL DAY thanks to this thread...thought I was the only one... lol

[eurotrash]

Originally Posted by Holly

lmao...that damn song has been in my head ALL DAY thanks to this thread...thought I was the only one... lol

needs moar cowbellz

[satyr]

I think Zappa put it pretty well when he was talking about music and compositions. I think it applies in sentiment to any art

1. Declare your intention to create a composition.
2. Start a piece at Some Time.
3. Cause something to happen over a period of time (it doesn't matter what happens in your 'time hole'-- we have critics to tell us whether it's any good or not, so we won't worry about that part).
4. End the piece at Some Time (or keep it going, telling the audience it is a Work in Progress).
5. Get a part time job so you can continue to do stuff like this.

[Elsaspet]

I think art is about striking out your own path. That's gotta be first and foremost because who really wants to see a tired old rendition of someone elses art?
I've been looking at lots of photog books and it seems the ones that make history are the one that gives a nice five finger salute to what has been tradition in the past. Whether you think they are good or bad, these are the history makers.
Not only are they history makers in photography, but all other art forms as well. I can't help but think back to Ryan's "Fountainhead" when I think of the topic of art. It needs to be new and refreshing. It needs to break bounds to be a real true art form to me. It needs to confound the consensus.

[satyr]

again zappa said it well
"Without deviation (from the norm), progress is not possible." Frank Zappa

Oh and that's Ayn Rand who wrote Fountainhead. figured it was just a type so I clarified for those people inclined to maybe go pick up one her books. Just don't start with Atlas Shrugged.. try Anthem as a great primer for Rand.

[johnastovall]

Originally Posted by Elsaspet

I think art is about striking out your own path. That's gotta be first and foremost because who really wants to see a tired old rendition of someone elses art?
I've been looking at lots of photog books and it seems the ones that make history are the one that gives a nice five finger salute to what has been tradition in the past. Whether you think they are good or bad, these are the history makers.
Not only are they history makers in photography, but all other art forms as well. I can't help but think back to Ryan's "Fountainhead" when I think of the topic of art. It needs to be new and refreshing. It needs to break bounds to be a real true art form to me. It needs to confound the consensus.

But I think art to make history must be part of a continunity from an existant tradition. If not, "striking out on your own", can at best lead to some kind of folk art without a greater context.

The work of James Hampton is such an example of art without context in a tradition.

http://www.history.org/Foundation/jo...g04/throne.cfm

While the extreme abstaction of Jackson Pollack and Mark Rothko are firmly rooted in the linage of Western art.

[Elsaspet]

Yes, you are correct as in you can't forge ahead without an example to build from, but I still maintain that you can't build for a foundation without a foundation. All art originates from the dawn of time, but it's those little tweaks that seperate the masters from those that copy. Good or bad, photography is much the same. We learn from those who strive to deviate from the norm.
They might be good in our eyes, or mearly different, but they are unique....and that is what sets them apart and what sets the future photographers to mimick.
BTW-Anthem is one of my faves.......

[Elsaspet]

Originally Posted by johnastovall

But I think art to make history must be part of a continunity from an existant tradition. If not, "striking out on your own", can at best lead to some kind of folk art without a greater context.

The work of James Hampton is such an example of art without context in a tradition.

http://www.history.org/Foundation/jo...g04/throne.cfm

While the extreme abstaction of Jackson Pollack and Mark Rothko are firmly rooted in the linage of Western art.

Edited to temporarily losing my mind.....:-)

[Jake]

Originally Posted by eurotrash

WHAT IS ART?? BABY DONT HURT MEEEEEE DONT HURT MEEEE NO MORE!!! k

Damn you Todd!!



What is art? baby dont hurt meee dont hurt mee no more........