State of the "Art"

[DavidS]

Haha, good to see that more people are joining in.

Someone once said (I usually forget names when it comes to quotes, sorry...) that "Art is the "high level design" of communication" wich is the shortest way of representing how I see the term today. Doing away with "art" as a word (or maybe tying it to the meaning of "being extremely good in a certain skill") might indeed be a big step forward. Although I think many artists (especially the ones that advertise their work and themselve as art) would be standing against this idea. ^^ also the term is still needed to differentiate between certain careers. The concept artist does something different than the concept designer.At least when it comes to design agencies.

@Alex Ros: So I guess we`ve come to a good understanding of each other regarding the subject. Nice. I to am a big fan of what you call the "invert". I guess we`re talking about contrast and juxtapositions mainly. I am especially a fan of cognitive dissonance, uncanny valley, "fringe" horror and weirdness. Especially the contrast between "contemporary aesthetics" and the dissolving of it.

I need to revert to Silent Hill again. I think in the making of of the first movie, the director and the special fx guy brought the point across very good: That it is all about breathtaking beauty that gets distorted and skewed. That plays with pleasure and sexualty and the "body" but ultimately twists it to a level that we get scared as much by the monster as we are scared by us. "Antichrist" by Lars van Trier or Lynchs "Eraserhead" are good examples for the inner turmoil of positive and negative feelings. True terror and we grow out of the ashes of our own believes and emotions. A work that achieves this double-sideness has not only factual things to explore, but also exploration of an emotional level. It is very hard to pull of succesfully though. In painting I like Beksinskis work for that quality, but many others are more drawn to Giger or to Dali.

Back to the overarching subjects: Sure, we wont find a definite solution for the "art question" as the term is too much dependent on subjective views (not mentioning all the cultural discrepancies throughout the world.). In the end you need to sometimes run against a wall or push against a closed door. You might not get through, but you still get stronger.