defining good art
“At the same time, art cannot be understood in terms of purpose. As the sculptor Charles Ray has said, art is “for absolutely nothing.” To make, or experience, art is to enter a kind of free zone; it slows us down, places us in some epistemological estuary, takes us into the wild. We make art from our flaws, fragilities, perversities, from our need
... See moreBaudelaire believed that beauty had two parts. First, timelessness — like the form of a Grecian urn. The other part of beauty is something absolutely fleeting, like a fashionable dandy on the street. - Jerry Saltz
If museums don’t let more of the world in soon, soon the world will let fewer museums in. - Jerry Saltz
My working definition of art is thus derived in part from both a moderate institutional theory that recognizes the important role that the museum space plays in determining meaning and mediating a history, tradition, and theory of what occurs in that space, and an ecological theory of art that affirms that in its making and viewing, art does someth
... See moreDaniel A. Siedell • God in the Gallery (Cultural Exegesis): A Christian Embrace of Modern Art
“The one thing not worth looking at is the obvious.” This sort of art tells you everything in an instant and can only tell you the same thing forever." from The Critic as Artist. By Oscar Wilde
“The word ‘pain’ is in the word ‘painting.’” - Brice Marden
The best art makes your head spin with questions. Perhaps this is the fundamental distinction between pure art and pure design. While great art makes you wonder, great design makes things clear.
John Maeda • The Laws of Simplicity (Simplicity: Design, Technology, Business, Life)
- “Art exposes us to the universal experience of being a meaning-making animal in a universe where meanings falter. A good definition of art, it seems to me, might be the science of making meaning-making tools.”
Garth Greenwell • Just a moment...
“The process of making art,” writes Rebecca Solnit, “is the process of becoming a person with agency, with independent thought, a producer of meaning rather than a consumer of meanings that may be at odds with your soul, your destiny, your humanity.”[2]