L U N A T A L K with Eva Moon

Art or Crap?

July 31, 2007 on 5:52 pm | In Arts, General Musing |

This little quiz will test your art-divining skills. Your personal fabulous taste will not help you. Art is apparently in the eye of the curator and the definition of art used here is something that has been exhibited as such by an artist.

To me it’s art if it intentionally created as art and if it evokes emotion or alters perception. I have to admit to a personal weakness for installation art. Sometimes the unexpected and brilliant placement of the most ordinary objects can completely modify your perception of a space and meaning. There was an exhibit last year at the Seattle Art Museum that featured an entire wall covered with a grid of old snapshots pinned facing the wall. Some had a word or two scrawled on the back. A few had tantalizingly creased corners that almost let you peek. The power of not seeing the images was incredible.

I was left with only my imagination to fill in all the human lives they touched. I learned something about the temptation of voyeurism. The backs of those photos created a tension and energy that a representational image could not have approached. Was it a gimmick? Perhaps. Did it require exceptional skill or craftsmanship? Perhaps not. Did it communicate a profound and creative artistic vision? Absolutely.

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