It appears to be a rant.

[zerozero]

Philosophers can disagree about conclusions reached from assumptions made but no matter how ill conceived an argument might be people don't say "the ideas are bad so therefore he is not a philosopher" value judgements are present but poorly constructed philosophy is still philosophy. A mathematical formula without a proof is still maths. A

Comments

[inflammatio]

I think this is just a classic case of undermining of art achieved by postmodernism. Art did used to have permitmeters and intent of meaning; representation of objects and characters, etc. It used to be used for the iconification of religious things, historic figures. Art was never merely an expression. It was a language. Until about the time of the Renaissance. Then artists started signing their names to their art for the first time. Art began its evolution into a form a personal expression......and now. Well, yeah, we're left nowadays scratching our heads and eventually throwing in the towel. Brushing our teeth in the mornings might as well be a form of art, since art has been boiled down to expressions through any media, quality of execution secondary to the idea of the thing

[zerozero]

Well I’d be loathe to say “undermining” - more “redefining” as I’m not opposed to postmodernism as such. Other than that I couldn’t agree more - especially with regards to digital art, but I didn’t know we were allowed to say that out loud yet? Is it safe?

Thanks for both of these thoughts,

[inflammatio]

I see what you're saying.

I'm not certain it's safe yet. Sort of like I'm not certian anyone in the world of literature would take livejournals seriously; though I seen/read some terrific stuff out there that I don't find poetry readings even come close to.

I do like postmodern art and the post post modern -- for thinking about -- but never does it seem to lead me in a direction I embrace as a kind of deeper, transformative "truth."

Claire


[latristesse]

That is such a lame excuse for a conclusion and it pissed me off, because I know you'll be stubborn about maintaining it for evermore. I don't understand why defining what's art for you has to be An Objective, when surely that defeats the point of art in the first place?

'Everything is art' - how St Martin's. Rah.

[zerozero]

Defining what is or is not art isn’t an “objective” for me, in fact it’s been something I’ve struggled with and felt uncomfortable about doing for years now. Deciding that there are more important things to concern myself with that the art/not art debate isn’t something I intend to be stubborn about - I’m simply going to hand the decision back to the artist. The objective (if anything) is to avoid the trap altogether. Not "everything" is art, but if it's presented as art then it is.

Much as I prefer you speaking your mind to being afraid, the St Martins insult seemed calculated to hurt, and it did. Rah.

[latristesse]

If you really believe I calculated that statement to purposely hurt you, now that hurts. I was teasing.

You aren't a St. Martin's person, which is why I'm always fascinated with everything you come up with and find you 'refreshing', and I don't think this post does your mind (what little I can make of it) justice. Neither does limiting yourself to decisions about art. Maybe I'm just naive, but I'd like to believe there's something more personal to art than that.

[zerozero]

Here is something I don’t do very often. Blame.

I blame a) The internet, because it’s not very good at denoting teasing. b) You for not knowing justhow much that would make my skin crawl. c) Me for being so big headed, (I suspected you might find my conclusion a little irritating - and so thought I was prepared for your ire.) d) Me again - for failing my own golden rule. Seems that as well as caring what you think I also care what you think of me. Human fallibility! Sign of weakness! Must purge!

Haven’t changed my mind about this yet tho’ looks like it’s a keeper. Still respect me ?

I like this entry a lot because you

[anonymous]

categorize bad art as not art but still "art