SYNOPSIS. In which the problem with "everything is art" is addressed head on. In which the author channels a dead children's book author in order to get to the heart of the problem. In which the qualities of better art are listed in easy-to-read fashion. And where the author is finally stumped by his own questions.
When your baseline is "every creative/created thing is art," (PROBLEM 0000) you get frustrated. There is, at first, no room for maneuvering. “Everything” is a big word and it crowds you out and as soon as you think about it harder, it gets bigger.
When your baseline is "every creative/created thing is art," (PROBLEM 0000) you get frustrated. There is, at first, no room for maneuvering. “Everything” is a big word and it crowds you out and as soon as you think about it harder, it gets bigger.
In a world of Everything, each individual Thing struggles with greater ferocity to get noticed, to be placed above its thingly peers, by standing on shoulders or walking up stairs. Here is Thing 1 and here is Thing 2. Thing 1 is red and Thing 2 is blue. Is Thing 1 wearing an armored hat? Is Thing 2 swinging a vampire bat? How do we tell if one thing is better? If one is wet but the other is wetter? Just because a princess kissed him, doesn’t reveal a value system.
So, yeah. An utterly Seussian conundrum. Everything is art. What makes this egg so special? Perhaps only the chicken knows. Let’s play chicken. Let’s put ourselves out there and make a quick list:
A BUNCH OF WAYS SOME ART MIGHT BE BETTER THAN OTHER ART
- It is More Excellent
- It is Less Stupid
- It is More Human
- It is Less Human
- It is More Awesome
- It is Less Awesome
- It is More Colorful
- It is More Gray
- It is More Arty
- It is Less Arty
- It is More Controversial
- It is Less Societal
- It is More Facebooked
- It is Less Seen
- It is More Tweetified
- It is Less Discovered
- It is More Plus Oned
- It is Less Discoverable
- It is Sexier
- It would Totally Sleep With You if it was Alive and took the time to get to know you better
- It is More Vampire
- It is Less Soul Sucking
- It is More Familiar
- It is the Most Recent Thing You’ve Seen
- It is the First Thing You Ever Saw
- It is a Rehash of Your Favorite Thing
- It is a Demolition of Your Favorite Thing
- It is All You’ve Seen
- It is Nothing You’ve Seen
- It is Grotesquely Free
- It is Grossly Expensive
- It is…You Don’t Really Care, but Hey, It’s Cool, Let’s Pin It!
Questions. But do any of these qualities add up to goodness? Are any of them indicative of badness? Where does Sophistication, Complication, Excellence, Defiance, Obeisance, Empathy, Fear, Truth, etc come in? What is Human? What is Humanity? Is one person more human than another?
{ 0 comments... read them below or add one }
Post a Comment