Re: Is it Art?

Posted by jediadept on 2008/9/11 15:19:10

I am very intrigued by Winterhawks simplification of ?What is Art??.
While reading it, I couldn?t help but wonder how Marcel Duchamp fit in (or if he even should), but farther along the page Android pretty much covered my opinion on that.

In the fledgling tradition of ?Found Art?, Duchamp puts a urinal on display and names it ?Fountain?.
What especially bugs me about this is that he didn?t even make what he?s taking credit for; he found it, displayed it, and gave it a name, period. But, this does touch upon a subject that I like to consider, from time to time; what about relationships between art and craftsmanship?

The aforementioned urinal may be a very attractive urinal, one that strikes a good visual balance, maybe skillfully reflecting a particular style of art matched to its projected environment, and thoughtfully designed (right down to the composition of the porcelain used to construct it).

The craftsman that designed and built this urinal did so to initially fill the primal need to survive (paycheck$ = food and lodging), but somewhere along the line they put more into the project than what was strictly necessary to get the job done. I think that this too denotes artistic expression though it seems less recognized.

And then, like today, some jerk comes along, puts their name on it and claims it as their own (Duchamp interweb style).