Hi Frank, > I guess what I'm trying to say is that ~for me~ (and I know I may be alone > here),
You are not alone! I pretty much feel the same way, only perhaps more so. Even though I spend a fair amount of my time hanging around galleries and museums, reading books about composition, looking at paintings, photos, architecture and sculpture, I really dislike the notion of 'Art'. This is at least partly because of the conceited way in which so many people use the word, and moo like cattle when the subject comes up, but mainly because the art status of any given object seems to me to be spectacularly irrelevant. I expressed this opinion, at greater length and with more justification, on the RPS list a few times and it didn't go down at all well (not least because the levels of knowledge and intelligence were not at all what one should expect from a Royal Society of something...). --- Bob Thursday, January 2, 2003, 4:43:37 PM, you wrote: > Hi, Vic, > Your comment brings to mind something that has always troubled me. > I always feel uneasy when someone describes themselves as an "artist" (and this > isn't directed at Mike, or anyone else). Dancers dance. Painters paint. > Sculptors sculpt. Photographers photograph. > I know that many people refer to themselves as "artists", when they really mean > that they engage in a number of different activities, (painting, drawing, > installations, whatever), and I suppose that's acceptable shorthand, given their > involvement in multiple activies; saying that one "draws, paints, etc. is quite > cumbersone, I suppose. > That's not to say that the product of those labours shouldn't be considered > art. And that's not to say that I don't consider many photographs as art. > Speaking for myself, I sure as hell don't consider myself an artist. But, if > someone wants to consider the odd photograph that I take as art, that's their > prerogative, and I'm always flattered by that. > I guess what I'm trying to say is that ~for me~ (and I know I may be alone > here), art is in the eye of the beholder (I know, terrible cliche). I for one > would be happier if the viewer would be left with the decision of whether > something's art, not the producer.
