> I am involved with several art galleries and a couple of art-related > organizations, which has caused me to consider "what is art?" and what is > "craft?" more seriously. Marilyn As always when this question crops up I was left without a definitive answer. Reading other's replies it's clear that the very exact - but mutually exclusive responses - are that it means different things to different people. I got as far as a list of words I needed to include in my reply: skill originality vision creativity method manufacture snobbery designer artisan elite working class utilitarian accidental nature skill vision craftsman artisan journeyman artificer celebrity fame beauty taste culture icon symbol semiotics seminal expression imagination genius talent style concept aesthetic perception Candidates for special mention are snobbery: really, it's still there and divisive - insulting to those not "in the loop". Originality: overstated by those who base their own work on the mundane / predictable search "to be the first". In the depths of history artists dined with kings (and entertainers with the dogs). Artists (recognised as such by their contemporaries) of old were thus in that position by virtue of who they knew. Today "celebrity" has replaced artistry in the public mind: even famous artists are there for their celebrity appeal more than their actual work. Anyway: I forget who said it but "the day you define art is the day it ceases to be so". Or: "if everything is art then nothing is" - very relevant today methinks. Another that I think points a finger at conceptual art: "The more minimal the art, the more maximum the explanation." Hilton Kramer (1928-), The New York Times art critic, in the late 1960s. Bob Adding an "F" is all that it takes to understand art. A warm feeling, some hot air, but no one should really own up to it.
