|
It's been an interesting discussion.
It seems that our opinions on what is art fall into two camps.
1. Those who view art's main value in it's physical manifestation, with all the qualitative judgements that can bring.
and
2. Those who see art more as a philosophical concept in which it is the process of producing the art, from conception to completion, that is more important.
As you may have guessed, I fall loosly into the second category, but I also have a more existential view.
To put it simply, I believe that art is only truly valid in the phase from conception to completion. I believe that once a work of art has reached the stage where it truly expresses the artists inspiration and is judged by the artist to be complete, from that moment on it is dead. A cast off. Like a dried leaf falling from a tree.
I know I'm probably in a minority of one, and I could easily spend many hours in front of this keyboard trying to explain what art means to me. But it would be a pointless excercise, because in my philosophy, what art means to its consumer is irrelevant.
This has really been an eye opener to me. This discussion has forced me to really think hard about one of the most important things in my life, and I feel a lot better for it.
|