Modern art? What is art?

[Saitek]

We discussed not long ago in one thread about how art has gone so weird. Splodges of ink and messed up bits of rubbish count as great masterpeices by mankind. :-/ In my opinion art is something special, it is distinguished as something that displays skills. Obviously there are different levels of art for different ages, but when something hits the news it should be at the least inspiring.

On youtube today I came across something I have never heard of before. It displayed what I call art. This is what I admire and I think that it is incredible that we still have men around like the guys at this competition in the US. One Chainsaw (yes a bulky heavy chainsaw) and a big section of a tree. This is really awesome. No hammer and chisel, just a bulky chainsaw. Watch the full thing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45XkWKCF ... ed&search=

[expat]

Tree trunk turned into a carving of animals whether done by your finger nails or a chainsaw, it's art.
A bag of rubbish on a museum floor, is still a bag of rubbish on the floor.

Matt

[Saitek]

Tree trunk turned into a carving of animals whether done by your finger nails or a chainsaw, it's art.
A bag of rubbish on a museum floor, is still a bag of rubbish on the floor.

Matt

Couldn't have said it better myself. 8-)

[dcunning30]

A bag of rubbish on a museum floor, is still a bag of rubbish on the floor.

But if you manage to craft an eccentric counter-culture reputation for yourself, you can fill a bag full of rubbish, give that bag of rubbish a clever name, you can charge alot of money for that bag of rubbish.


....as the saying goes, one man's trash is another man's treasure!  

[flymo]

Tree trunk turned into a carving of animals whether done by your finger nails or a chainsaw, it's art.
A bag of rubbish on a museum floor, is still a bag of rubbish on the floor.

Matt

or a lazy janitor, i love fine art, proper art i hate moden art, went on a tour of new york art museums about 2 years ago, and some of them where awesome but the googemheim (or w/e its called) was crap, just full of junk!

[expat]

A bag of rubbish on a museum floor, is still a bag of rubbish on the floor.

But if you manage to craft an eccentric counter-culture reputation for yourself, you can fill a bag full of rubbish, give that bag of rubbish a clever name, you can charge alot of money for that bag of rubbish.


....as the saying goes, one man's trash is another man's treasure!  

Just because you are complicated and nobody understands what you do, does not make you an artist.

Matt

[Woodlouse2002]

I can appreciate all art. Some however do take the piss somewhat.

[Mushroom_Farmer]

A bag of rubbish on a museum floor, is still a bag of rubbish on the floor.

But if you manage to craft an eccentric counter-culture reputation for yourself, you can fill a bag full of rubbish, give that bag of rubbish a clever name, you can charge alot of money for that bag of rubbish.


....as the saying goes, one man's trash is another man's treasure!

[61_OTU]

Most of what we recognise now as great works of art were dismissed in their time as modern rubbish.

If there's artistic intent, a message, behind the bag of junk, then it's an artistic statement. Ergo a bag of junk can be art.

That doesn't mean it's good art.

To me the best art demonstrates some skill in the application of the materials. That's the kind of art which may not be immediately appreciated but which has longevity and inherent value.

Anyone remember the head sculpted from the artists own frozen blood? It was purchased by Saatchi for a huge sum........anyone remember what happened to it?

[Chris_F]

Anyone remember the head sculpted from the artists own frozen blood? It was purchased by Saatchi for a huge sum........anyone remember what happened to it?

Perhaps it melted?  I guess there's always hope...

[expat]

Anyone remember the head sculpted from the artists own frozen blood? It was purchased by Saatchi for a huge sum........anyone remember what happened to it?

Perhaps it melted?  I guess there's always hope...

It melted in his insurance claim warehouse fire when he realised he had paid mega bucks for crap warehouse with other such treasures as Tracy Emmits underpants.

Matt

[dcunning30]

If there's artistic intent, a message, behind the bag of junk, then it's an artistic statement. Ergo a bag of junk can be art.

That being the case, I'm going to go out to a street corner in San Francisco and loudly and strenuously let out a fart.  I'll call it performance art!  That should land me a cushy National Endowment for the Arts grant.  

For those of you who aren't Americans, the NEA have demonstrated in the past that good art is not a prerequisite for handing out money!  

[Hagar]

[quote]That being the case, I'm going to go out to a street corner in San Francisco and loudly and strenuously let out a fart.

[dcunning30]

[quote][quote]That being the case, I'm going to go out to a street corner in San Francisco and loudly and strenuously let out a fart.

[Cobra]

Totally disagree with you Saitek, art is what the viewer makes of it...just because you don't understand it doesnt mean its bad, maybe the problem is with you . There is also far more to contempory art, more than just painting a picture a someone or something, its far deeper than that...

I agree that your sort of 'classical' art takes a lot of skill, and shows some beautiful scenes...but thats not what art is. Well not real art anyway... (imao  ;D)