What is Art?

Ron Eggers

SPFG, Supreme Picture Framing God
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Hey, I don't know. That's why I'm asking.

At least some of you think it needs to be one-of-a-kind. That leaves out a lot of pretty pictures.

I'm all ears.

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Trying to get a lock on the "CAN-O-WORMS" title are we Ron?
 
Its got that look on its face that our dog gets when you stop rubbing its belly!

¡Is the question 'what is arf?'! If it is then you abnswered it? If it is 'what is art?' then you will notice that so far we have all successfully avoided answering you! Comes from years of being asked by artists 'what do you think of my work?'

If that isn't a request to 'dance' then I don't know what is! Nice day so far, eh?
 
Art is whatever the owner of the art is willing to pay to have custom framed.
 
Ron,

That is the strangest chicken I've ever seen!
 
Art is the chemical reaction that occurs in the brain and is registered in the heart as an emotion.

This can occur both as the viewer of art, and as it's creator.

It is closely related to Love.

It is very similar to the answer to "What is music?".

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It's just too simplistic to define fine art and then say '...and THAT is what art IS'.

In it's absolute definition, the answer must not only describe why advanced art is worthy of praise, but it must also explain why so many people are willing to passionately possess what is considered (by others) to be bad art.
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For music to be music, does it have to be live or can it be Memorex?

Is the 1,000,000th copy of War and Peace less worthy as literature than the very first copy?

Are reproductions less art than the original? Are open editions less worthy than LE's?

While you all are pondering these imponderables, I need to go help people with questions like "What's better: an HMO or a PPO?" and "What the **** is a deductible?"

Have fun.
 
Oh. Okay.

End of discussion.

Never mind.

Carry on.

Gotta go.

See ya tonight. I don't imagine I'll be logging on at work. We're supposed to be getting some visiting dignitaries, including my boss's boss's boss's boss's boss's boss.

Having been the boss myself for 28 years, I'm sure we'll get along famously.
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And then you have this: (I am not trying to make a point here - just show how hard it is to answer this Q)

Artist stages 9/11 'falls' from museum roof
CHICAGO (AP) — A performance artist wearing a business suit and safety harnesses jumped repeatedly from a museum roof to create photographs that recall scenes from the World Trade Center attack, but his spectacle was scorned by some onlookers and victims' relatives.
Collaborating photographers snapped away as Kerry Skarbakka fell more than 30 times from the five-story Museum of Contemporary Art on Tuesday. The photographs will be retouched to erase the pulleys and wires that kept Skarbakka from hitting the pavement.

Skarbakka, 34, said he started thinking about falling after watching on television as workers jumped to their deaths from the twin towers on Sept. 11, 2001.

"I was so distraught, I needed some way to find an artistic response," he told the Chicago Sun-Times. Now, he says he sees falling as a metaphor for life.

"Mentally, physically and emotionally, from day to day, we fall. Even walking is falling: You take a step, fall and catch yourself," he said.

Skarbakka, who lives in New York and was named by ArtReview magazine last fall as an outstanding young photographer, has exhibited similar images of previous jumps.

His antics on Tuesday attracted a crowd of gawkers, who became sidewalk critics.

"It was fabulous," said Darlene Schuff, 56. "I just wanted to be a part of it. It's a happening."

Others in the crowd said Skarbakka's effort was too staged to have meaning.

In New York, Mayor Michael Bloomberg called it "nauseatingly offensive," and some who lost family and friends at the trade center agreed.

"What kind of a sick individual is he? Tell him to go jump off the Empire State Building and see how it feels," Rosemarie Giallombardo, whose son Paul Salvio died in the terrorist attack, told the (New York) Daily News. "He's an artist? Go paint a bowl of fruit or something."
 
I once went to San Francisco's Museum of Modern "art". In one gallery there was a hot dog encased in plexiglas rotting away. At the British Royal in Vancouver there was an instalation of a grid of fish tacked to the wall at least 30 feet wide by 8-10 feet high oozing and dripping. Are these examples more "art" than a gifted childs art? I don't know myself.

Why do birds fly?

Why does the sun shine?

Why are we here?

Does the light stay on in the fridge when you close the door?
 
"Art is anything I choose it to be … neither more nor less. "

Humpty Dumpty (more or less)
 
The most poignant expression of the form and substance of Art that I've come across was found in the pages of that cultural icon, National Lampoon. I wonder if they still do Foto Funnies?

A man and a woman are sitting up in bed, smoking.
He: I've often wondered the meaning of art, and I think I've found it. I mean, when a painter paints, his love for painting is left on the canvas. When a singer sings, it's her love of sound that is art. What we hear is a by-product. So then, art could be anything. If a truckdriver deeply loves his truck, then driving that truck is his art. All that is needed is for you to feel passionate for what you are doing. What we deem art is only what is left behind. Art is the residue of passion!
 
She: Good! You sleep on the "Art" spot.
 
Hey Eric,
I absolutely love your definition of art in your first reply. All my years in school and never heard that before. Is that an original "ericism", and can I use it in my brochure I'm putting together ?!?!
Lori
 
art 1 (ärt) KEY

NOUN:

Human effort to imitate, supplement, alter, or counteract the work of nature.

The conscious production or arrangement of sounds, colors, forms, movements, or other elements in a manner that affects the sense of beauty, specifically the production of the beautiful in a graphic or plastic medium.
The study of these activities.
The product of these activities; human works of beauty considered as a group.
High quality of conception or execution, as found in works of beauty; aesthetic value.
A field or category of art, such as music, ballet, or literature.
A nonscientific branch of learning; one of the liberal arts.

A system of principles and methods employed in the performance of a set of activities: the art of building.
A trade or craft that applies such a system of principles and methods: the art of the lexicographer.

Skill that is attained by study, practice, or observation: the art of the baker; the blacksmith's art.
Skill arising from the exercise of intuitive faculties: "Self-criticism is an art not many are qualified to practice" (Joyce Carol Oates).

arts Artful devices, stratagems, and tricks.
Artful contrivance; cunning.
Printing Illustrative material

i got that from yahoo's dictionary.
does anyone remember that guy who coated things in cheese? i saw it on an episode of spark i think.
now that's art.
 
Almost anything is art, with the natural exception - photography.

Photography is not art.

Is photography art? No.
 
This quote from Walter Pater(art critic in the 1800's)has always stuck with me. In fact, it is written across one of the walls in my shop.

"For art comes to you, proposing frankly to give nothing but the highest quality to your moments as they pass, and simply for those moments' sake."

But, then I don't know if that explains this....my current favorite artist, Chip Simons.....
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Originally posted by Lance E:
Almost anything is art, with the natural exception - photography.

Photography is not art.

Is photography art? No.
I've "known" Lance for a few years, and I'll be darned if I can tell if he's kidding here.

I HATE when I can't tell.

I'll assume he's kidding. Yup, that works for me.
 
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