Replying *before* I go look at the Chihuly page, so that I know I'm discussing abstracts rather than this particular situation.
I'm not sure I agree that "just plain entertainment" is not, or cannot be, art. That "pretty" isn't a form of "meaningful."
I do believe we're going to have to rethink a whole lot of concepts around "art," because most of them were created in a setting of scarcity: art included the concept of /unique/, and between easy copies and mathematical formulas arranged aesthetically (fractals) and various forms of digital reproduction, that's being seriously challenged. If a stained glass window is art, is it less art if the same shapes and colors are printed on clear plastic and placed in a window? Is a fractal run through Photoshop's "stained glass" filter, and then printed, not art?
And so on. The issue of how much & what kind of human attention is required to make something "art" needs some new considerations, along with the ongoing issue of "who's qualified to decide if something is really art?"
*now I'll go look at the glasswork, 'cos art or not, I like the pretties.*
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2008-08-04 11:53 pm (UTC)I'm not sure I agree that "just plain entertainment" is not, or cannot be, art. That "pretty" isn't a form of "meaningful."
I do believe we're going to have to rethink a whole lot of concepts around "art," because most of them were created in a setting of scarcity: art included the concept of /unique/, and between easy copies and mathematical formulas arranged aesthetically (fractals) and various forms of digital reproduction, that's being seriously challenged. If a stained glass window is art, is it less art if the same shapes and colors are printed on clear plastic and placed in a window? Is a fractal run through Photoshop's "stained glass" filter, and then printed, not art?
And so on. The issue of how much & what kind of human attention is required to make something "art" needs some new considerations, along with the ongoing issue of "who's qualified to decide if something is really art?"
*now I'll go look at the glasswork, 'cos art or not, I like the pretties.*