Scott Wheeler wrote:
From: George M. Middius
Date: 6/25/2004 8:29 AM Pacific Standard Time
Message-id:
S888Wheel said:
I'm not evading. It would help me to answer your question if you really
truly
don't know of any objective standards in any genre of art. So do you or
don't
you?
Wouldn't you have to simplify your definitions of "art" -- as well as
the standards for judging -- to a ridiculous degree? For example, to
judge whether a painting is "good" or "bad", you would have to rate its
use of color as one component. But the artist might be using horrible
colors, or appalling smearing, to make a point, no? So you couldn't pull
out a single aspect like color as a benchmark. You'd have to consider
the work as a whole before judging individual aspects. And since art's
effectiveness, if there is such a thing, depends on the individual, is
there any point in defining "objective" standards thereof?
Well you ask a good question. Maybe people are not understanding what I am
saying here. I am not saying all aspects and of art are purely objective to
every degree. Of course much of art is subjective. I am saying that there are
objective standards in art. I am not saying one can objectively say DaVinci
was
a better artist than Picasso or visa versa. I would say that they are both
excellent artists by objective standards in art. To take it to the extreme
just
to illustrate my point, I would say that Miles Davis was an objectively
better
musical artist than myself. I can get any number of instruments to make
noise.
It ain't art.
From my perspective, the examples you are giving have to do with the
*performance* of art, not the art itself. Of course, one could probably set up
objective standards for the level of expertise exhibited in *performing a piece
of music" (or presumably, but less concretely or definitively of reproducing a
landscape or model by an artist). For example, when various competitions are
held for piano soloists by various classical music organizations, one can
assume the judges apply a set of standards to it. I'm not sure whether the
same type of procedure occurs with paintins. At any rate, I would basically
consider the creation of a work of music or a painting or other art form to be
subjective, since it involves the creative process. However, the performance
might well be judged via various objective criteria.
Bruce J. Richman