Each week I plan to invite a couple friends to this blog so I can ask them a question. My friends will share their answers with me and you, gentle readers, can give your answer to my question in the comment section below. I’ll choose one random person from the comments and reward them with an ebook surprise, it’s that simple! Comments are moderated, so don’t despair if you’re not posted immediately! All commenters will be entered into a drawing, so don’t be SHY!
Last week’s winner is: druuuuuuumroll please: Chris Muldoon! I’ll be sending you an  email asking which ebook you fancy pronto! Thanks for playing along.
This week I gave my authors a tough assignment. It’s actually a question you’ll find in theory of knowledge classes, and very few people who signed up for my brunches wanted to take it on! Fortunately, in the three people here I have some very awesome authors who aren’t afraid of a challenge, so without further ado, I’ll ask this weeks guests to:
Define Art.
What is Art?
I saw this on a medallion at the Sawdust Festival in Laguna Beach, CA this summer and loved it so much I just have to quote it. It comes from artist, Jennifer Yane, and considering that I write the Beautiful Boys of Romance, it seems perfect to me:
Art is spirituality in drag.
: ) – Author Tara Lain
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Like obscenity, most people think of art as something they know when they see it. I have vivid memories of my father glancing over my various art class textbooks and commenting on Duchamp’s Fountain, “That’s not art!†The Society of Independent Artists would have agreed with him — back in 1917.Yes, my dad is a little bit of a throwback, but he’s not unique in confusing quality with personal preference. The default position for a lot of us is, “I don’t know anything about art, but I know what I like.†So it’s probably natural that the logical thought progression would be that if you like it, it must be art.
But that’s a dangerous position: the notion that if you like something it must be quality or that if you dislike something, it must be flawed. I personally struggle with the concept that all art is subjective, and yet clearly concepts like Beauty and Good and Obscenity vary from culture to culture — and even within any given culture over a period of time.
I think the essential problem with the idea of art as subjective or personal, is that within that construct, the responsibility for what is or is not art lies with the audience — whereas I believe, by strictest definition, it actually lies with the artist. For me, whether something is, or is not, art is strictly to do with artistic intent.
The moment an act is performed deliberately in order to bring about a reaction from one’s self or another, it becomes art. Well, no. Because by that definition both murder and masturbation would be art. So I suppose I would have to qualify that to: the moment an act is deliberately performed to provoke an aesthetic — positive or negative – reaction from one’s self or another, it becomes art.
The catch is that what would be considered aesthetic at any given time is subjective. But the intent to provoke or stimulate the reaction is not subjective. – Author Josh Lanyon
Now, Gentle Readers: Tell us how you define art HERE on my website for a chance to win an ebook from one of these fabulous authors!
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Sunday Brunch Blog - 9/22/2013
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