Why Art? Why Music?

[DARISC]

Originally Posted by Taz's Master

DARSIC, you are the one who told me that what I believe to be form of performance art is not.

Can you quote me? I can't recall what I said to you re that.

Is it because of an arbitrary standard you hold to be true, or is it because there is a true standard for art?

I don't believe that I hold any "arbitrary standard" to be true (I'm really not clear on that to which you're referring).

A "true standard for art"? We're still at step one until there's a mutual agreement on the definition of the meaning of "art" - don't know how to move forward with this until there is. I asked you what art is "in your mind" (as I believe you put it), hoping to be able to respond more specifically than I'm able to now. Did you read my tendered categorization of various types of art a few posts back? It's meant to provide a possible form to refer to in this discussion.


I find that sports communicate same messages of emotion, the human condition and the state of society that art strives for, and sports do so with a grace, beauty and ferocity that is also often the goal of art.

Again, hard to discuss the "goals" of art without first defining "art".

To me sports are a performance art and often sporting events are more meaningful than any other form of performance art I have experienced.

Art and music are communication.

nostatic, I will agree with you, but when the subject of a work of art is an athelete engaged in competition, is not the same communication taking place at the event?

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[enzo1]

Music, art is a private matter for me. I either like it or I don't. There is no right or wrong. I like Caravaggio and can certainly see why others may not. I get the chance to go to Rome I'm gone

[Crowbob]

Without art we are animals.

[DARISC]

Originally Posted by enzo1

Music, art is a private matter for me. I either like it or I don't.

Not something you care to discuss because it's a private matter; nothing wrong with that. The end.

There is no right or wrong.

Oops! Maybe not. Care to discuss what you mean by "right or wrong", re art?

I like Caravaggio and can certainly see why others may not. I get the chance to go to Rome I'm gone.

In the mean time, if you haven't already, you could visit the Kimbell Art Museum in Texas or the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC or Princeton, Cleveland, Detroit or Kansas.

Regarding liking Caravaggio, you "can certainly see why others may not." Interesting; what's not to like about Caravaggio?

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[M.D. Holloway]

Originally Posted by Crowbob

Without art we are animals.

or math...or baking...or textiles...or laughing

[RWebb]

Originally Posted by Gogar

Art and music have the same function as non-procreative sex.

hmmm... both have actually been hypothesized as forms of sexual advertisement (that is certainly why birds have music)

one thing Mike - they both seem to date back to near the dawn of our sub-species of human -- that is when we see a proliferation of art anyway


another idea is that music/dancing is used to promote social cohesion and for social facilitation - one example would be war dances

[RWebb]

Originally Posted by Crowbob

With or Without art we are animals.

corrected

[Taz's Master]

Originally Posted by DARISC

Sports are competitive, art is expressive.

If your intent was not to be exclusive in this post, I missed what you were trying to say.

[DARISC]

Originally Posted by Taz's Master

If your intent was not to be exclusive in this post, I missed what you were trying to say.

MINI I.Q. TEST

Select which word is out of context:

a) painter
b) composer
c) novelist
d) dancer
e) batter
f) poet
g) sculptor
h) pianist

[Zeke]

Originally Posted by DARISC

I agree with you 100%.

On a recent thread on this topic I got involved in a pm session with several other posters who wanted to discuss just what "art"really is. It was impossible to do that on the thread without an incessant barrage of "That POS ain't art!", "Artists are worthless, lazy sleazebags", etc., so we had an enjoyable discussion privately.

In one of my PMs I wrote this about that, in an attempt at a generally accepted categorization within which it might be easier to discuss the question, "what is ART?":

Graphic/commercial art - conveying info that promotes a product, event, etc.

Crafts - ceramics, weaving, glass blowing, etc. Objects made primarily to serve a purpose or function.

Decoration - eye candy.

Design - applicable to all the above and judged by how effectively/elegantly/aesthetically it is embodied in the product.

The area of crafts is problematic for some who might say, "That's a tapestry to hang on the wall to look at, it has no other function, it is art". Yes, but its essence is that of craft; it's a weaving. The artist/craftsman (as opposed to the basic craftsman, whose basic focus is on his craft as utilitarian) chooses to be constrained by the medium of his choice and when judging his work the aesthetic/artistic aspects of the work are penultimate to the quality of the craft.

A fine artist may in fact be a lousy craftsman and the choice of medium is dictated by the statement he wants to make. I've never heard or read reference to the quality of the "craft" in Van Gogh's paintings for example. Truth is, he was driven by images which he attempted to put on canvas as quickly as he could, even at one point when he was institutionalized, rapidly making a painting then immediately scraping off the paint and making another and another. His focus was on his visions, not so much with the craft involved in realizing them.

Fine art, whatever the medium - serves no purpose or function other than to make whatever statement the artist wishes to make. It, by definition, has no utilitarian value. And, it is cutting edge, pushing the envelope, avant garde, however one wants to describe it. Most often it is not possible to judge its historical importance immediately. Some is not, as is generally realized, able to be judged until varying amounts of time has passed, after which great/historically significant art can be recognized in the greater context that only accumulates over time.

What most people stumble over is the differentiation between the avant garde and the academic. They tend not to recognize that "creativity" is not the ability to paint like Rembrandt, Renoir, Picasso or Pollock - that ability is a craft. The creative work was done by Pollock - to repeat what he did is craft and one who may be able to do it well is an "artist" craftsman, an academician, because that which has been done, become recognized as creative and important is thereafter academic - creative art moves on.

There is a lot of "craft" in oil painting and watercolors. I guess the artists call it technique.I would submit that "fine art" is not necessarily art at all. I never understood why artists studied under other artists so long and so hard. What they got was a long line of evolution in that mode. They developed their craft.

Of course there certainly are some greats that used that craft to produce some great art. Show me an impressionist landscape and I'll yawn.

[M.D. Holloway]

Short of your own sexuality or religion, there may be nothing more personal than ones own taste in music or art - that means something. Say what you want but that sort of passion isn't wasted on something meaningless. Maybe it is the thing that makes us so very different than the rest of the animal world?

[The Gaijin]

I feel bad for those would have been musicians in this modern world.

They sit around playing nothing - as their customer base is listening to iPods, watching MTV and surrounded by music in their cars, offices and everyplace else.

A hundred years ago these people had a natural audience, and now they don't.

The same could be said for performance artists..

[DARISC]

Originally Posted by milt

There is a lot of "craft" in oil painting and watercolors. I guess the artists call it technique.

I absolutely agree. And there is a lot of art being produced today that won't stand the test of time in terms of durability because the artist doesn't give a damn about the quality of the craft involved or the art isn't intended to last. The "statements" these works make may range from banal trash to profoundly interesting. "New" art always generates controversy and over time the wheat is always separated from the chaff.

I would submit that "fine art" is not necessarily art at all.

Will you elaborate on that? All fine art? What's an example of "fine art" that's not necessarily art at all?

I never understood why artists studied under other artists so long and so hard. What they got was a long line of evolution in that mode. They developed their craft.

That was way back when and then, yes, there was a long line of evolution in a given mode. But that was then, when artists were dictated to by the church, then later by the aristocracy (and of course governments that demanded propagandistic works) until the birth of modernism when artists shucked all those bonds and began making "art for art's sake" as it were. Today there is no longer the apprenticeship system there once was.

Of course there certainly are some greats that used that craft to produce some great art. Show me an impressionist landscape and I'll yawn.

I once fell asleep at a symphony performance - but that says much about me, not the music.

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[DARISC]

Originally Posted by LubeMaster77

Short of your own sexuality or religion, there may be nothing more personal than ones own taste in music or art - that means something. Say what you want but that sort of passion isn't wasted on something meaningless. Maybe it is the thing that makes us so very different than the rest of the animal world?

Well put.

Regarding taste, yes that's personal (and mutable). Cain't git no PhD in taste, nosiree!

But we humans always tend to try to create contexts, to categorize and evaluate, to write historical accounts where choices and decisions are made by experts and historians that determine what is important, significant or worth mentioning. Consequently, historical accounts may vary widely - who was it that said "History is a fictionalization of the past"?

At any rate, one can choose to ignore all but what their personal taste happens to be; but taste can change with increased knowledge that can lead to deeper understanding.

[john70t]

Originally Posted by DARISC

MINI I.Q. TEST
Select which word is out of context:
a) painter
b) composer
c) novelist
d) dancer
e) batter
f) poet
g) sculptor
h) pianist

d) dancer? Every other could require use of a tool.

[GH85Carrera]

I would say the batter because it is a sport or game. The rest are judged as good or not. The batter is measured performance.

[DARISC]

Originally Posted by john70t

d) dancer? Every other could require use of a tool.

Not a finger painter.

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

I would say the batter because it is a sport or game. The rest are judged as good or not. The batter is measured performance.

Yes, yes and yes.

Now 'splain pleeze to Taz's master?

[imcarthur]

Or it could be argued that a, b, c, f, g are the only real artists i.e. they create art.

d & h perform art. But if they improvise along the way they could be classed as artists per above.

e is just sport. A participant in a war game.

Ian

[DARISC]

Originally Posted by imcarthur

Or it could be argued that a, b, c, f, g are the only real artists i.e. they create art.

d & h perform art. But if they improvise along the way they could be classed as artists per above.

Mmm...mebbe the question should have been "Which of the following is not included under the definition of "the arts". d & h are and are generally considered performing artists, eh?

e is just sport. A participant in a war game.

Agreed (though some will be miffed at "just" a sport ).

Ian

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[scottmandue]

I don't know much about Art... but he seems like a nice guy...