Art

[sartorias]

I have been up in the redwoods for a week--nature's art. I'd post a picture but they are all turning sideways and as yet I don't know how to fix that. My hosts, Deborah J. Ross and my long-time best friend Dave Trowbridge and I have had an excellent time, talking writing, going out for walks, and when we want to, each retiring to a room to write.

Comments

[queenoftheskies]

Have a safe trip home!

[sartorias]

Thanks!

[samhenderson]

What a wonderful retreat!

[sartorias]

It was so beautiful, and even cool weather! Though not much rain, sigh. I did have hopes.

Re: the "deemed" part--i don't know about that. when does it become art?

[sartorias]

But what about art already made?

In The Hare with Amber Eyes there is some fascinating talk about art already made, and its passing from hand to hand.

[whswhs]

Arthur Koestler has a great chapter about art snobbery at the end of part one of The Act of Creation, where he addresses the whole question of valuing art because you know the name of the artist.

[sartorias]

Oh, that sounds interesting!

[whswhs]

As to the broader question, doesn't this turn to some degree on whether you hold a social constructivist view either of concepts generally or of the concept of "art" in particular?

On a pure social constructivist stance, you would say that our society has this concept of "art" and that we apply it to, say, Paleolithic paintings of bulls and shamans, or Bronze age sculpted weapon hilts, from societies that did not have the word "art" and might well not have had any word that could even be translated as "art"-and that this is purely a statement about how our society categorizes things, reflecting its relations of power and prestige and social signalling (art is a form of capital that you use to signal your membership in an elite that values art); we are appropriating the creations of other societies for inclusion in this category

[sartorias]

I guess I hew closer to what you call the realist.

[lnhammer]

An off-topic question for when you get back: which comes first, Senrid or Fleeing Peace? (The descriptions don't make this clear.)

---L.

[sartorias]

Senrid. (Leaving in fifteen minutes!)

[lnhammer]

Gotcha.

---L.