Is This Art?

[Mitch]

I hear so many people say that modern art is [img]/xxx.gif[/img][img]/xxx.gif[/img][img]/xxx.gif[/img][img]/xxx.gif[/img] and easy and that they could make a masterpiece with minimal effort. What interests me about modern art is why such odd concepts of art become renowned. A pile of [img]/xxx.gif[/img][img]/xxx.gif[/img][img]/xxx.gif[/img][img]/xxx.gif[/img] would not be called art, but [img]/xxx.gif[/img][img]/xxx.gif[/img][img]/xxx.gif[/img][img]/xxx.gif[/img] put in cans and sold according to the price of gold is- don't ask me why- I've forgotten that lecture (but it was insightful).

We have to accept that art is no longer based purely on talent and tradition. The ignorants out there who can't see this clearly have not looked at it in perspective. Art has always, from the stone ages to the present, relied on current trends for definition. There are many astronomically talented painters and such who do not gain the recognition they would have 400 years ago. This is because art is no longer defined by what is aesthetically pleasing. Humans have reached the inevitiable stage in our existance where the norms must be questioned to the extent where this kind of work is created and appreciated.

[NorthernChaosGod]

So what you're saying is that any no-talent bum with something wrong in the head can pass of some piece of crap (both literally and not) as art just because it goes against the norm?

[Mitch]

No.

What I'm saying is the talent has extended from skill witha paintbrush to incorporate things such as context (now, more than ever, it is important in a lot of artworks), social commentary and clever-thinking. If art had stuck to the great Renaissance traditions that everyone views as High-Art, it would be boring by now. Change is inevitiable, just like in music, and even though you may not like it at all, it is considered art.

[smittenkitten]

The first picture of the toilet wasn't that great because It had no emotion..if he urinated in it I think that would give it the emotion to be ..art.

[Rinoabella]

I would say it is definitely art, that is, if it was intended to be seen as that. If the photograph is presented in a gallery or whatever then we should see it in an artistic manner. Whether or not it is GOOD art, that's up to you!

[Quindiana Jones]

Ooh good point Rinoabella. I think I'm happy with that. It may be art, but it's certainly not good art to me. I mean really, how can something you urinate over be art?