If Art is not shown, what is it?

[travis1]

Peter Apo's recent query about the "origin" of "orginality" is a good

one, because it asked how/why one decide what is art and what is not.

 

I have been asked many times :" If an explosion goes off somewhere

and nobody is around to hear it, is there Sound?".. or thereabouts.

 

 

So if an artist were to keep all his art and Not shown to anyone at

anytime, are they/there still art?

 

 

Seems like art is to be seen to be appreciated, and not imagined.

 

Like sound to be heard, of an explosion.

[dennis_couvillion]

If the artist appreciates his work as art, then it is art. Even if he shows no one else it is appreciated at least by one person as art.

 

BTW, why do people keep asking you that explosion question? ;>)

 

Dennis

[bobtodrick]

First off Travis...although an interesting question in the past, the 'if a tree falls in the forest' is kinda bogus. Any definition of sound revolves around the movement of wave through the air...which happens whether you are there or not. I think it was probably the humanists who started asking if it was really sound without a ear to hear it. Again I'll use my old standby, Van Gogh. In his short art career (he only spend 8 years painting), his works were hardly shown at all...spending most of their time in the possession of his brother who tried, pretty much unsuccessfully to have them shown. So did they not become art till after he died and were 'discovered' so to speak? If so what were they before...just paint spattered on some canvas? I don't think so. Art is the creation of something concrete from ones imagination...whether you bother showing it to anyone is your (the artists) business and has no bearing (IMO) as to whether on not it is art.

[ellis_vener_photography]

<I> I think it was probably the humanists who started asking if it was really sound

without a ear to hear it. </I><P>I think you might be wrong Bob. my understanding

is that this is one of the first of the Zen Buddhist riddles about the nature of

awareness of self / existence to be popularized in the West. Another one is "what is

the sound of one hand clapping?".

[travis1]

Interestingly enough, I asked this in my local forum 2 fellow forumers pointed out TRACY ERMIN'S BED as an unexhibited entry to the Turner Prize?? competition and WON?

 

 

anyone knows?

[choen]

Art, shown or not shown, is still art. If shown then it is Seen art, and hopefully appreciated. If it is not shown then it is Unknown art.

Some really crap crafts became famous pieces of art simply due to marketing, while some profound pieces never ever got shown and thus never made it to the collective popular memory.

 

I know that I exist. But because you have never seen or heard of me before, what am I to you?

[bob_lazzarini]

" If an explosion goes off somewhere and nobody is around to hear it, is there Sound?"

 

Likewise, "If a tree in a forest falls on a mime, is there sound?"

[emmanuel_tjoe_a_long]

IMHO, Art is only Art when someone qualified declares it Art.<br>

I think of it this way; there are things that are free, there are things that have a price and there are things that are priceless. The "thing" is a thing regardless of the human factor but the price or lack of has to be determined by a qualified human.

[charlesk]

"Art" comes from the word "artificial."

<br>Some modern artists try to challenge this definition

<br>by exhibiting "real" art (like a toilet.) Whatever.

<br>If a tree falls in the forest, it does make a sound, because God hears it.

[choen]

So when someone qualified declares you as insane, are you?

[reinier_de_vlaam]

please define art...

[travis1]

No definition of Art here, because it's not shown to anyone..

[stefan www.randlkofer.co]

for the beck's futures price (some say this is the new turner price) here in london an artist did a piece wich will never be shown. beck's had to sign a disclosure agreement. now it is going to be hidden and noone will ever see it. is it art? or is it just a conceptual piece of crap? i think, as it starts the discussion and makes people think and discuss it and art in itself, it is art, though i think it really sucks. even bad and boring art is art.

[tom h.]

Picasso said- "Work kept in the mind may as well be kept in the

closet ". Words to live by.....

 

Tom

[emmanuel_tjoe_a_long]

choeN:&nbsp&nbspYes, if a psychologist declares me insane then I am. All my friends have known this for years but it's just not official yet.

[hm]

This is a very important question ... if you're writing a dictionary.

[h._p.]

Art is whatever someone says it is.

 

As to the sound of one hand clapping - I always assumed that was a particularly

asinine joke...

[fotografz]

Tom, you have the Picasso quote backwards...

 

"Art kept in the closet (i.e.; unseen), might as well be kept in the

head (i.e.; remain undone)."

[tom_rand]

Okay: Van Gogh never sold a painting, but his work is considered art. Van Gogh also cut off his ear. Now if a tree fell in a forest, would Van Gogh have heard it?

 

Let's get back to bitching about the MP.

[jordi_rosales]

As everybody can see at this point, this is an universal web forum in which the word leica is only a cover or an excuse to approach more fundamental matters to the future of mankind.

[emmanuel_tjoe_a_long]

As a Leica M3 newbie, I would buy a new MP...but not instead of an M3. When I can afford it, the MP will be my next Leica product.

[joakim_gleisner]

Check out "Art as Experience" by John Dewey for some interesting thoughts on this. It's well worth a read.

[markci]

If a man says something and his wife's not around to hear, is he still wrong?

[h._p.]

Yes...

[choen]

This <a href="http://www.offstone.com/photo/showthread.php?s=&threadid=3107">forum here has a far more interesting discussion, spawned from this same question</a>.

I hope you don't mind, Travis.