The Rev

It occurred to me the other day that when people try to apply objective standards to subjective things (like art), what they are really doing is trying to tell others how to think. For example, to say that The Mona Lisa is "good art" and that LOLcats are "less good" is trying to fit something totally subjective onto an objective scale.

And when you accept these "standards" you cease (at least to a degree) to open your mind to your own reactions to the work, choosing instead to filter your experience through the ideas of others.

I think this is important to consider because we apply standards of judgement to virtually every subjective area of our lives, from "she is attractive and she is not" to "that band is cool and that one is not" to "my religion is better than yours" ad infinitum. And what we get is this amorphous, often self-contradictory set of arbitrary standards that people use to see the world, instead of just looking at it and accepting the experience as it comes, first hand.



The Rev

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josephpothead

Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. We must be open for our own interpretations and opinions when it comes to art. We easily misled by listening to other people's opinion rather than having one ourselves. Art is for everyone to enjoy. Not listening to everyone or not agreeing to things that they are saying doesn't mean we cannot appreciate art.

adventure

When I'm working on something be it a sculpture or design, I try and keep it open-ended. To me its just usually aesthetically pleasing, but when I find someone trying to analyze it and they ask me does this mean.... (insert some commentary on society) then I have done my job. I have got their wheels rolling. and 99% of the time it doesn't mean anything, which i always get a kick out of! my response is no I just think it looks cool, but thanks for appreciating it.

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Coming Full Range

José

The same piece of art can make two different people feel two totally different feelings. It doesn't matter what anyone else says. I took a class on art history and that's part of what my teacher liked to talk about. What is "art." You have to judge art by what it is, just art. Art will make everyone feel different regardless of what they are told.

I.E. this is actually a really famous piece of art...

adventure

I had the privilege to see Sandy Skoglund a few years ago at my school. She is one of my most favorite sculptors, for the simple fact that her work is beautiful and honestly just fucking cool. Well when she was talking about her work she felt compelled to give all of her piece this deeper meaning. She went on and on about the symbolism blah blah blah. I really believe all of it came after she created the pieces and felt she had to have some meaning behind them. As seen here they are neon cat they fucking awesome I like looking at them end of story.

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Coming Full Range

Silverleaf

This is also considered "high art". It's called "Elle a chaud au cul", roughly translating to mean "She has a hot ass", which was supposed to answer the question: Why is the Mona Lisa so iconic?

I think some shit's pretty and some shit's not. I never expect anybody else to agree with me, though. That's why I preferred art history in school to art appreciation and the like.

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BibleGuy

My friend and I noticed a painting on the wall at a gathering a few weeks ago. It was an abstract thing that looked like a bunch of random brush strokes. Pretty mix of colors, but nothing - no design. It was not a painting of something. It was a painting of nothing... until we really looked at it, that is, deeply at it. The we saw wild animals and spaceships and valleys and rivers and trees and and all sorts of crazy things. We looked at it and discussed it for at least half an hour. Amazing painting. I liked it.

José

What is art though?

Art is something that makes you feel a certain way. All art affects everyone differently, but it does give you a feeling that you would have otherwise never experienced. And that, to me, is art.

Waves

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On this life that we call home
The years go fast and the days go so slow

OldMan&TheWeed

While I do agree with Rev when he writes ". . .when people try to apply objective standards to subjective things (like art), what they are really doing is trying to tell others how to think," I do believe that there exists in all human beings a universal concept of beauty. This idea is based on an object as being in balance and harmony with nature. A thing accepted as beautiful usually has symmetry. Symmetry has been scientifically proven to be inherently attractive to the human eye. Whether a flower, a building, or a woman's breasts, symmetry = beauty and asymmetry = ugliness.

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Nintey-three percent of what I say is brilliant, factual information and seven percent is complete bullshit. Have fun deciding which is which.

Waves

art is the human translation of the divine act of creation

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On this life that we call home
The years go fast and the days go so slow

Splackle

samurai jack kicks ass, no pun intended.