Date: Fri, 14 Sep 2007 21:03:58 -0400
To: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org
From: malgosia askanas <ma-AT-panix.com>
Subject: Re: [Puptcrit] "Art for Art's sake"


Michael wrote:

>          While I can't speak for Ed, I think we still are on the 
>same page.. if I interpret his word unalloyed to mean unshaped, 
>unmanipulated, unconditioned by concerns for meeting the agendas of 
>those parties whose approval  ( read: willingness to purchase ) 
>takes into account other concerns than artistic excellence as 
>significant factors in their decision.   As we return to the start 
>of this ( most wonderful and fascinating!) discussion, the starting 
>point was how can Lisa get more gigs.... I think "gigs" implies 
>getting paid in this case.

OK, I don't want to bore you-all with this, but I am not sure that 
you and Ed _are_ on the same page.  When Ed decribed "art for art's 
sake" as an impossible ideal, I asked him explicitly if what he meant 
by "impossible" was that it was impossible to survive financially 
from that kind of art, and he said that that was *not* what he meant, 
and that the impossibility had nothing to do with money.

>          The elephant in the livingroom in this semiotic exercise is 
>that I'd imagine few of us work entirely at one end of the spectrum 
>or the other, if the spectrum runs from  being driven by market 
>analysis to being in total disregard of what anybody else thinks 
>about the content our work.Maybe in that statement I am revealing my 
>own definition of Art for Art's sake... i.e.,  a person following 
>their own inspiration, willing to chance that it may not be liked or 
>understood, ( or bought ) but compelled  ( and maybe courageous ) 
>enough to just do it anyway.A leap off the edge.

OK, but "willing to chance that the work may not be liked or 
understood" is NOT the same as "total disregard of what anybody else 
thinks about the content of the  work".   Right?  Why make these 
kinds of leaps?

>         Admittedly, this is an entirely western, relatively recent 
>(historically speaking)
>   notion about art and artists. When I was traveling through 
>southeast Asia, meeting with puppeteers there, clearly they were 
>artists too..... but there was an entirely different concept that 
>they held as to the role an artist plays in their society.But that's 
>another discussion !

I would love to hear more about it.  Please, when you have a moment, 
do tell us more about how these artists they see their role.


-m
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