Re: Art vs craft was PF Galleries

[Marilyn <marilyn@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Great comments, Bob, and very insightful.    Thank you for contributing.

Marilyn
________________________________

Leave gentle fingerprints on the
soul of another for the angels to read.

                                               Proverb
__________________________________
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Bob Talbot" <BobTalbot@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "List for Photo/Imaging Educators - Professionals - Students" 
<photoforum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Sunday, February 06, 2005 8:39 AM
Subject: Re: Art vs craft was PF Galleries


> > 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.