art-definitions
"Ar" in common parlance has a double meaning: It designates creative activity in general and represents work that circulates within the specific tradition and set of institutions of the visual arts; thus, something can be "art" (that is, creative) but not be "Art" (that is, not fit within the visual arts sphere), or something can be "Art" (that is,
... See moreAn established artist is typically backed by a substantial body of work that has achieved international recognition by appearing in significant museum shows, publications, and collections. Several of these are occasionally referred to as blue-chip artists due the higher price points that their works command.
Meanwhile, an emerging artist "is exactly
... See moreThere’s a good deal of complaint about how flat contemporary art feels. Whether the problem is the failure of artists to create great art, or the failure of audiences and journalists to recognize (or seek out) great art, or some combination, I don’t know. Whether the key culprit is that art is too shallow and decorative or that it is too... See more
Ben Davis • Unlocking the Secrets of Art That Gives You Chills | Artnet News
As the novelist Ottessa Moshfegh once said to Bookforum , “A novel is a literary work of art meant to expand consciousness.”
Celine Nguyen • no one told me about proust - by Celine Nguyen
Brief rewind to April 1917. Marcel Duchamp (or was it? Art history cannot agree. It is entirely likely that Duchamp stole this idea from Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven, an artist working with found objects at the time) took a photo of one of his new artwork: Fountain — a porcelain urinal signed R. Mutt . It was published in a Dada journal called The... See more
ZM • NO MORE FOUND OBJECTS
—Zarina Muhammad, No More Found Objects (2025)
In the essay "Labor, Work, Action", Arendt writes “In the sphere of fabrication itself, there is only one kind of object to which the unending chain of means and ends does not apply, and this is the work of art, the most useless and, at the same time, the most durable thing human hands can produce”.
When I first read this I baulked at the sentiment... See more
When I first read this I baulked at the sentiment... See more
nathanbeck.eu • A Wasted Life
Most elites believed that “art” described a rarified sphere...which stood in opposition to the "mass culture" of bland, sensationalist, lowest-common-denominator works made for profit. There was no confusing the two worlds, because there was a very high bar for what qualified as “art.” The avant-garde concept of art was something like “creative... See more
Celine Nguyen • no one told me about proust - by Celine Nguyen
An open distinction between 'artist' and 'artisan' will be avoided, since these terms suggest implicit hierarchies and differing levels of brilliance, whereby an artist makes highly valued objects of aesthetic pleasure, but a craftsman makes functional things with a purpose (or, crucially, things that don't look like art to European eyes).
from p17