Must art have meaning...

to be considered art?

 

of course not. although it wouldn't hurt

 

A bunch of writers got together yesterday and we talked about this. Our conclusion was that if art means something to even one person it has meaning.

One of the writers went to an art gallery in the city. One room had a shovel hanging from the ceiling. It was called "Shovel", I thought "Men at Work" would have been a better title but I'm not an artist.

 

I think if it does not have some meaning to the artist, then it is not art

art is suppossed to be an expression of one's thoughts or feelings

not "hey, look I drew a can of soup"

 

No. Everything is art if you just open your eyes and look around.

There's also so many kinds of art - basically anything someone does is art in one way or another.

 

That's "conceptual" art. Actually, the word "shovel" is pivotal to it. Is it a noun as in "a shovel" or a verb in "to shovel" or is it the concept of "shovel", or is it the object hanging in the gallery, or is it a play on the interelationship if any of these concepts?
Wow, that makes yer head hurt dont it?
Some dude looking at it with a closed mind would probably think it was crap.
That's one of the functions of art... it expands your mind and if the cops come around, they can't bust you for having it in your possession.
But, getting back to the thead, it's all straight forward really, all you have to do is:
1.define "art"
2.define "meaning"
3.determine their relationship... good luck!

 

Some people think that pop art has a deep meaning, but some see it as just meaningless...

 

i dissagree. what about graphic art for magizines or what not? the only meaning of most commercial art, to the artist, is the paycheck.... but its still art.

 

going by the way words manifest anything is anything...

 

imo art is the view of someone. a person sees (hears.. etc) something, and brings something out of it, so they use themselves as a medium to show what they saw to others. now others may or may not adhere to the artist's view, and may interpret it as they want too, but in the end the meaning is just in the eye of the viewer.

dunno if that was clear. oh well

 

Is art about always pushing the boundaries whether in literature or fine art? So therefore is it about gaining constant inspiration from around us, intern allow everything we see and feel be an artistic expression; but once this is applied or thought about gains meaning from the artist and its production. Colour and form affect us emotionally all the time, which itself gives meaning, whether its joy, serenity, anxiety, fear, disgust......Art is very subjective and really can't be objective untill agreed rules have been made, this then, for me makes the artist a craftsman re. sculpture, painting drawing, graphics etc. In literature there are structures (grammer and construction) to be learnt to which point self expression and style can be developed.

But then again with a forum point like this we will go round and round and continue exploring without concluding anything, tough one.

 

First of all, it should mean something to the artist before it means something to anyone else. Aside from that, nine-tenths of it is personal preference, I suppose.

 

oh man...i kinda don't even know why i entered this thread...spend any amount of time at an art school and you'll spend every second of it discussing this...
not everything is art...art is something that has a meaning put behind it...even if that meaning is in essence meaningless to some, it still has a meaning behind it...not everything thing is art, but everything is beautiful in my mind...art is not always beautiful...
you can take anything, and put a meaning behind it and make it art...but without that meaning it isn't art
this is actually the reason i am starting to hate the art world, anyone can stick anything in a gallery and call it art, if you know how to bullshit

 

I think the worst thing art can do is make you feel indifferent, but this is debatable.

 

thank you

 

Of course art doesn't need meaning... beauty doesn't have meaning, it just is. How about the beautiful sounds so many of us hip folks pump into our ears each day? I don't think the sound of a guitar string vibrating can have much meaning, but it has great beauty and it can be wonderful art.

 

art can be interpreted in sooo many ways, a simple painting can give meaning to many different people. the artist doesn't necessarily have to put meaning into their piece, but everyone else will find a meaning

 

For me my art usually has no meaning behind it, and also doesn't make sense. But i don't think it has to. As long as there is enough detail in complexity then thats what counts.

 

Is that you in your sig? If so you're very pretty.

 

I hate when people do that

A) edit it in to your original post
B) do the logical thing and send a PM or guestbook entry




I want to know what the people that disagree with me and indiansummer (and the dictionary) think the definition of art is

by definition art must have meaning
whether it is meant to just be something beautiful or argue some philosophical point, there must be some form of intent (other than 'making art')