Spin-off to X's Post (and sure to be controversial.. but we're adults) -- What constitutes 'art?' Define it.

Scenario --

An person decides to bottle his urine with the word Coke written on it. He calls it's 'art.'

Do you?

My answer -- I take the bottle and throw it at him and call him a freak.

I don't think it's something you can define. I personally hate modern art and don't think there's anything aesthetically pleasing about 9 different shades of black in a frame, but to someone else it's worth millions.

It's like a sense of taste. I know that I hate the taste of green peppers, but lots of people love green peppers. Why do I hate it and someone else loves it? The same reason why I like Maxfield Parrish's artwork, and other people like Jackson Pollack.

It's an unanswerable question. The only true stab I can take it that God made us all individuals!

One man's art is another man's garbage (or waste product if you will).

'Art' can not be defined I don't think. What I see as art another person won't. It's totally subjective.

I think that the people who use their bodily waste and call it art have serious issues. Shock value aside - if they want to make political statements about religion or government... I think they should do that and not hide behind 'art'.

By the same token religious and government leaders do not have the right to remove 'works' from display based on what they think is correct. When everyone gets all fired up - we all have to go see what the noise is about. I think the term used is '9 day wonder'. Ultimately if it sucks - no one will care in a week anyway.

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Posted by Lunatrek

I don't think it's something you can define. I personally hate modern art and don't think there's anything aesthetically pleasing about 9 different shades of black in a frame, but to someone else it's worth millions.

It's like a sense of taste. I know that I hate the taste of green peppers, but lots of people love green peppers. Why do I hate it and someone else loves it? The same reason why I like Maxfield Parrish's artwork, and other people like Jackson Pollack.

It's an unanswerable question. The only true stab I can take it that God made us all individuals!

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I hear ya -- modern art has no meaning for me. But as you say.. it's a matter of taste.
I guess my definiton kinda goes along the lines of -- if people are talking about it 100 years from now.. it's art.. for me.. I need/want the test of time to 'validate' it.

I know I didn't provide a very good definition.

To define art is only to try to contain it, which is impossible.

The coke bottle filled with urine is, in my opinion, completely self indulgent. . . yet Jose Serrano's famous and controversial work from the 1980's, entitled Piss Christ, was a photo of a crucifix immersed in a container of urine. . . you had no idea that you were looking at urine until you read the title (in very small letters off to the side of the photo) or were told. Much of the piece (according to Serrano) had to do with represent humanness in relation to religious iconicity. . . but in my opinion, what I thought was interesting about it was how my opinion of the piece, which I had from just looking at it - changed when I heard the title. It forced me to consider what exactly I was looking at.

I remember when Rudy Giuliani tried to shut down the Brooklyn Museum of Art for what he called 'obscene art' (he had not seen any of it). He was specifically referring to Chris Offili's piece titled 'Our Holy Virgin Mary' which was a large painting of Mary, with her breast formed by elephant dung. The presence of dung was enough for Rudy to condemn it - and yet, Offili, a British artist of African descent, reasoned that elephant dung is fertilizer in Africa - it is nourishment for the soil - and what he very much wanted to convey was Mary's fertility as mother. Would I hang the painting in my livingroom? No. . . Did I appreciate it as art? yes.

I give it to someone that needs clean pee for a drug test.

How could that be considered art? Is peeing in a toilet art? If so...call me Picasso.

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Posted by MrHostility

I give it to someone that needs clean pee for a drug test.

How could that be considered art? Is peeing in a toilet art? If so...call me Picasso.

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Hello Picasso.. I'm Rembrandt.

The tooth whitening system?

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Posted by MrHostility

The tooth whitening system?

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Everyone is still though classifying what THEY feel is art, which to another may not be...To that man and to anyone who apprecaites it( I mean there must be one right? Maybe?) then it is Art and no-one can say it's not...You may not like it, or understand it or think it's art but it's not your decision to make, it only your OPINION and thats where people contiually jade themselves...

Is Art today not as imaginative and classy as the past...yes of course...but thats not the question asked...