On Monday, September 11, 2000 1:33 PM xgl xli03@emory.edu wrote:
> > I submit anyone who agrees with that equivalence should then quit using
the
> > term, because if there's no way to tell art from non-art, then what good
is
> > labeling some stuff art? (Unless such labeling is merely to increase
the
> > asking price for such stuff.)
>
> which begs the question, why would we want to label them anything
> at all?
The reason to label anything is to differentiate it from other things so as
to have an easier time understanding it and communicating about it. (The
former is more important than the latter.)
> people value some objects/designs and not others ...
I would not confuse art with design. The shirt I'm wearing now -- a Perry
Ellis short sleeve -- has a design I like on it. In fact, it's one of my
favorite shirts. Yet I would not label it a work of art. It is pleasing to
my eyes and comfortable to wear, but it is not art. I value it, yet I do
not call it or classify it as art.
By the same token, there are things or works which I do classify as art,
which I do not value or like. Some of these art works I'm even repulsed by.
Yet I still believe them to be art.
You see, something can be art without being valued by someone. Someone can
even agree something is art, yet not like it and not want to experience it
ever again. Someone can love something, yet know it is not art.
> ideally
> because of some quality of these objects/designs and not because they are
> placed into some category. to emphasize such a category is to say that it
> matters in some way.
See above. If people use "art" to mean something is of high value, then I'd
say the term is being abused. Markedly, that's not how most people use the
term. Art works, generally, are set aside for special contemplation. This
kind of blows a whole in the valuing something making it art.
> but really, if someone actually purchases some
> object/design solely because they think it's "art," then they have too
> much money anyway and i can't pretend to sympathize.
I agree. A fool and her money are soon parted. But this does not make it
art, any more than someone blowing money on swamp land makes her a wise
investor.
Cheers!
Daniel Ust
http://uweb.superlink.net/neptune/
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