What is Art?

Art defined in history

The Idea of Imitation - MEMESIS

Socrates

But we are delighted with good imitation … makes us delight in learning itself.

Aristotle

Is art art because it is a good imitation or representation of the world?

Dutch Still Life

What if it does not look like the thing it claims to be?

Brancusi’s Bird in Space

The argument in court was that the sculpture was art based on the idea of birdness

The Resplendent Quetzal

Understanding history

Just because we call it art now does not mean thatit was art as we define it in the 21c.

Lascaux Caves

MagicCommunication

Ritual???

“Our assessment of the artist depends partly on our perception of what the

notion of “art” represented to a particular society at a particular time.”

What is art? p.4

Art has been art as we know it only for about 200 years…

idea-based art less than 100.

It is difficult to tell, just by looking, how a piece of artwork was perceived in its original context.

Greek sculpture with color and without.

What is particular about the human animal making art?

“When we see, feel, touch, think, remember, invent, create,

and dream, we must use our cultural symbols and

languages”Staniszewski, M (1995). Seeing is believing: Creating the culture of art. New York: Penguin, p. 1

As opposed to a spider who cannot symbolize.

http://www.travel-tidbits.com/tidbits/images/fr/

Chartres_Cathedral_Notre%20F.jpg

Chartres cathedral

A cathedral floor plan is shaped by symbolism.

The traditional cathedral floor plan is cross-shaped. The congregation faces east to the rising sun. The nave (Latin for "ship") is where the congregation sits. There may also be seating areas in the transepts. The choir is seated in the chancel. In Protestant churches, the pulpit and lectern are often transposed, or a single furnishing (sometimes placed in the middle) serves as a location for both reading and preaching.

Iconography is content with specific meanings…that are culturally bound.

Is art art just because someone calls it art?

Duchamp’s Fountain (1917)

Is art art because it is original?

Can anything be art?Why or why not?

Sherrie Levine’s Fountain (1991)

Mike Bidlo’s Urinal Drawings (1998)

Is art art because it is civilized? Beautiful? In good form?

Damian Hirst The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living

Is art art because someone says it is valuable?

Damian Hirst (2007) For the Love of God - $100 Million Dollars

David Hammons

Malevich Black Square (1923-29)

What are art’s boundaries?

Your thoughts…