Date: Fri, 14 Sep 2007 21:30:07 -0700 (PDT)
From: Michael Richardson <zenchops59-AT-yahoo.com>
To: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org
Subject: Re: [Puptcrit] "Art for Art's sake"




malgosia askanas <ma-AT-panix.com> wrote:    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 impossibility of pure Art, as a philosophical examination, refers to the idea that we human beings can hardly resist investing some kind of idea into the work itself... and one could accuse that idea of being an agenda, however  subtle. I know that abstract art can achieve this neutral place, as can music, as can dance....  but I wonder about theatre?Is there such a thing as a story without a meaning ?
   
   
   
   > 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?
   
          I dunno.... it all depends on how important it is to an artist that what they are expressing is understood by the audience  as the artist intended it.Generally, I think that its REAL important... but  sometimes you just want to dance on the edge, let things happen, and not have to be responsible for all that." Total disregard , etc., " is the absolute end of the spectrum, with regard to just how idiosyncratic do you want to go ?  " Willing to chance, etc. " means that one still is quietly hoping at some level that somebody might get it.
   
  > 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.
   
      Many artists I spoke to in India and Indonesia would describe western artists as being obsessed with novelty. They would find the notion of the lone visionary artist inventing their own worlds to be foreign, uncomfortable concept..... because they see themselves as being part of a continuum.,  of a body of knowledge or culture that they share equally with the audience. Audiences in some cases are OFFENDED by artists straying off the path of what is expected, just as we would be unhappy to bite down on a Big Mac and find it was full of peanut butter. ( No flak, please, you vegetarians.. ) Because these artists feel they do not  "own " these stories, they see their role more like tradesmen and less like  shamans. And they take pride in that, too........i.e., how well they met other people's expectations.   I found this attitude to be really humbling for some reason.  Artists who'd rather be beloved by their community than the sometimes chilly place
 intellectually/creatively advanced people can wind up in  in the west. No  burning desire whatsoever for being famous or recognized beyond that of, say, a good baker or barber.
  Don't get me wrong, ... I personally was moved by them because I always aspired to be a member of the Cultural Elite.But I've been haunted ever since... that maybe they are on to something.Certainly it held up a mirror to the egofest that was my experience in ( western ) artschool.
   
   Michael


-m
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