Raises it to an art… this might make you think different about what we do here.

[MiaBabe23]

Part of the discussion in here reminds me of the lesson from Ratatouille; in that, anyone can cook, but not everyone is going to be good at it.

Actually the lesson was that anyone and everyone has the potential if given the opportunity and self-belief…

 

[AwkwardlySet]

Very well said, deGrasse Tyson is a fucking legend
Which isn’t to say art is superior in importance - writing our unique takes on, say, polio while drinking unfiltered sea water and wearing leaves might feel less special - but he’s so right that everyone is an artist if they let themselves be

If everyone is an artist then no one is. Just saying.
There should be some threshold for something to be called art, some basic quality it needs to posess that elevates it above the scribbling/smearing of paint, etc. Defining that threshold though, that's a tremendous challenge.

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

If everyone is an artist then no one is. Just saying.
There should be some threshold for something to be called art, some basic quality it needs to posess that elevates it above the scribbling/smearing of paint, etc. Defining that threshold though, that's a tremendous challenge.

A banana duct taped to a wall and named 'Comedian' sold for 6.2 million dollars. I'd say the barrier to entry is pretty low.

 

[Erozetta]

Part of the discussion in here reminds me of the lesson from Ratatouille; in that, anyone can cook, but not everyone is going to be good at it.

My most toxic trait is that I'm convinced the one thing I can do consistently and easily is to teach someone else how to cook. Not gourmet meals, but just to cook general homemade healthy meals that taste good.

I have very little confidence in my skills of any other avenue, but when it comes to cooking (and baking) I'm really damn good and I know it.

 

[NuclearFairy]

My most toxic trait is that I'm convinced the one thing I can do consistently and easily is to teach someone else how to cook. Not gourmet meals, but just to cook general homemade healthy meals that taste good.

I have very little confidence in my skills of any other avenue, but when it comes to cooking (and baking) I'm really damn good and I know it.

I'm good at cooking, if I have a recipe to follow, while my roommate will screw up any recipe she touches, but when she's just throwing things together (including baked goods) it always turns out super yummy. My SO falls somewhere between us.

Hmm, I suppose that could be used to describe different methods of doing art too huh?

 

[pink_silk_glove]

I have only a passing familiarity with Rushdie, so I can't speak to that, but Joseph Heller flew sixty combat missions over Europe during World War Two. Kurt Vonnegut was present, on the ground, during the firebombing of Dresden and its aftermath. Nobody else, ever, in the lifetime of the universe, can write Catch-22 or Slaughterhouse 5. The notion is absurd.

Exactly. ; )

 

[Erozetta]

I'm good at cooking, if I have a recipe to follow, while my roommate will screw up any recipe she touches, but when she's just throwing things together (including baked goods) it always turns out super yummy. My SO falls somewhere between us.

Hmm, I suppose that could be used to describe different methods of doing art too huh?

I am both you and your friend, lol. I can just whip up something good with whatever's in the pantry and fridge, or I can prep a gourmet meal from carefully curated ingredients.

But I'm best at just looking at a recipe, getting the idea and flavor profile down, then winging it with what I have and making substitutions with what I don't have.

But, yeah, that can absolutely apply to art. There's nothing wrong with following a tried and true recipe, but there's also nothing wrong with winging it and seeing what happens.

 

[pink_silk_glove]

There should be some threshold for something to be called art, some basic quality it needs to posess that elevates it above the scribbling/smearing of paint, etc. Defining that threshold though, that's a tremendous challenge.

All art forms, media and/or genres develop from a practical craft. What makes any particular work of craft a work of art is its qualities which extend beyond the practical. Simple example just to demonstrate: painting a ceiling is a practical craft. Painting the ceiling of the Cistine Chapel is art.

 

[AwkwardlySet]

All art forms, media and/or genres develop from a practical craft. What makes any particular work of craft a work of art is its qualities which extend beyond the practical. Simple example just to demonstrate: painting a ceiling is a practical craft. Painting the ceiling of the Cistine Chapel is art.

I was referring more to the level of skill needed, for the lack of a better word, for something to be called art. Painting the ceiling of a chapel in an obviously non-utilitarian way - by smearing paint of different colors randomly still shouldn't be called art.
There are people who'd say that what appears to be a random smearing of paint to me is a deep expression that comes from their very souls. I usually call that bull because it most often is bull, but maybe sometimes it isn't.
How can one tell, and what's the criteria?

The intent? The authority? The aesthetics?

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

I was referring more to the level of skill needed, for the lack of a better word, for something to be called art. Painting the ceiling of a chapel in an obviously non-utilitarian way - by smearing paint of different colors randomly still shouldn't be called art.
There are people who'd say that what appears to be a random smearing of paint to me is a deep expression that comes from their very souls. I usually call that bull because it most often is bull, but maybe sometimes it isn't.
How can one tell, and what's the criteria?

The intent? The authority? The aesthetics?

It's the reception, the consumption. The viewer of whatever it is decides what is art and what isn't. I guess why that banana I mentioned in an earlier post sold for what it did.

 

[AwkwardlySet]

I guess why that banana I mentioned in an earlier post sold for what it did.

I think that was all authority, the same as for many similar kinds of work that sold for ridiculous amounts of money.