In “The Crux of Conceptualism: Conceptual Art, the Idea of Idea, and the Information Paradigm,” Joanna Drucker discusses how one of the main objectives of Conceptual art, along with other forms of art, is to “distinguish art from mainstream media and industry” (page 253). In my opinion, this belief in the desire to separate art from the mainstream media is contradictory. For some time, it seemed that art functioned as the mainstream media – informing people, through paintings and other varieties of art, about what was happening in the world, or at least what was going on in their community. I don’t have any research to support my opinion, but when I think of such works as Guernica by Piscasso, I believe that art functioned as a way to convey news. In Guernica, for example, the masses could learn a little bit about the Spanish Civil War when they otherwise would not know about what was happening in Spain.
Drucker also seems concerned that art is under threat and disappearing, even going so far as to write “McShine correctly sees art as being under threat” (page 253). In the article, Drucker appears to believe that mainstream art, like film and video games, is not truly art. I think that Drucker is the wrong because I believe that, as cliché as it sounds, the beauty of art is in the eye of the beholder. Each individual person can decide whether or not he or she likes a piece of art, but that does not take away from the idea that something is art. However, the fact that we might not all share the same opinions about what is aesthetically pleasing can make discussions about art and what makes a piece art.
-Hannah Stern
I think you bring up an interesting point about things like video games being considered art. Do you consider them art? This begs another pretty fundamental question: what constitutes "art"? I'm not sure anyone can answer that, but I do not think that we can say art is in the eye of the beholder and leave it at that as an answered question.
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