P3D What is not Art?

[Charles Pflanze <cwpf@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

In a previous post, <razutis@xxxxxxxxxxx> "Xal Rautis" says about Mr.
Sage:
                                                                            
>Mr. Sage has given us a seemingly well-intentioned warning about the
>fallacies of 'modern art'.  He indulged us with classic rhetoric (invoke
>the acceptably famous and warn us of common vulgarity), and denigrated
>nameless artists on the basis of the MATERIAL that they used ('black
>tar', 'cold pressed steel', etc.) 
 
Well, I'm in the construction business, and personally, tar and steel
simply remind me of work, not art.  I've seen modern sculpture made of
common construction materials, and I just don't see much art in them.
I do see art when some skilled craftsmen build a sleek handmade race
car out of pipes and sheet metal.  But that's just my opinion. 
 
>And after a litany of dismissive remarks about the 'Modern and
>Contemporary Art' he then asks: 'And are they art?'                                      
 
What's art?
 
IMHO, art must move you, make you feel something.  When I feel, I want
to feel good, not bad, that's just basic human nature.  Art that makes          
one feel bad will have no monetary value to me, I'd never purchase it
or view it more than once or twice.  
                                                                                
>However, let's remember that Impressionists were once loudly derided by
>the Salon academics who termed their work 'disgusting', 'vulgar',
>'grotesque'.
 
Yep.  I can still remember turning the radio up real loud sometimes at my
grandma's house in Tennessee back in the late 50's.  I was a small child,
but when an Elvis Presley record hit the air, up went the volume.  Of
course, I knew grandma thought that Elvis was disgusting, vulgar, and
grotesque.  Elvis the artist could sure get her negatively excited,
then she'd start making even more noise than the radio.  Great fun for
a kid.
 
>Read the biographies of these artists, read what it took for this art to
>get accepted, read about poverty and pain, madness and suicide, read
>about the condemnation of these artists for choosing (then) forbidden
>subjects ('prostitutes', 'landscapes', 'common people')
 
Well, in my case, I've hardly got enough time to read about stereo
photography . . . 
 
>instead of
>painting the LORD sitting on his arse on his HORSE in a very noble
>posture, with the 'background' done by apprentices...
 
Haven't you been listening to the far religious right?  It's the last
days, and The LORD is a comin' soon, two weeks as a matter of fact,
and he's gonna whup yo arse! - liberal infidel and in-fer-hell!  :-)
 
>I'd like to hear more railing about that worthless Jackson Pollock, that
>Franz Klein who paints with BLACK, that Keinholtz that puts together
>JUNK,
 
Years ago, some thieves stole a piece of modern sculpture worth about 30
thousand dollars.  They didn't recognize it as art and thought they
were stealing scrap iron.  They took the "art" to a recycling center
and nobody there recognized the welded junk as art either.  Who knows,
the car you're driving may have this recycled "art" in the engine block!
 
>I think it is abundantly clear that ART has a lot to do with intention.
>It has something to do with expressing ideas, perceptions, contexts,
>inspirations, and expressing these in contradictory (even ugly!)
>manners, and that which upsets the norm.
 
Usenet and mailing lists obviously qualify as art, wouldn't you agree?
 
:-)                                                             
 
>Neither Gottlieb or Rothko wanted to be 'famous' or 'rich'.  They wanted
>to be true to their vision, however depressing or 'black' that vision
>was (for Rothko, in his last years).
 
Well, it's true that a lot of urban landscape and infrastructure is
depressing and black.  Construction sites can get to you after a while,
mud, noise, dirt, smoke, dust, yelling, cussing, fussing, lots of tar
and steel to be sure.  That's why I look for beauty and peace in art, 
I want to see something gorgeous, something splendid, something that
gives me a glimpse of heaven, so to speak.  I look for those scenes
in the natural world, that's why I like nature photography as a hobby. 
I don't think I'd want a Gottlieb or a Rothko in my living room.