From: Ed Atkeson <edatkeson-AT-earthlink.net> Date: Mon, 17 Sep 2007 15:52:48 -0400 To: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org Subject: Re: [Puptcrit] Art as communication m, >>> If a misanthropic architect builds for herself an exquisite house in the middle of a wilderness, is she trying to communicate something to herself? ;-) And around this house she might create a beautiful garden, and tend to it every day - without any neighbors or even cats to admire it (all right, let's at least grant her a few rabbits and a bunch of bees). And she might paint a bunch of exquisite paintings and put them up in her house - or not put them up, in fact - just for the joy, or out of the inner necessity, of painting them. Are any of these activities any less artistic than the identical activities of someone who displays hir creations to the public? And if the misathropic architect dies and her heirs make her house into a museum, is one now justified in claiming that the architect was driven by a wish to communicate, even if poshumously, with the people who come to the museum and who react, in one way or another, to the art she had created? [And if you are in the least tempted to say "yes", then I will enhance my story by telling you that the architect stipulated in her will, in no uncertain terms, that the house should be destroyed upon her death - only the will was challenged by the heirs (on the basis that the artist was insane when she wrote the will, because no sane person would go through the trouble of making all this art without wanting to communicate with someone) and they succeded in getting it invalidated (because the judge, too, was a proponent of the "communication theory of art". Heh heh, *now* what?] -------------- *Now* what? This is sillier than the plumbing metaphor. Prettier story though. Can an artist be the audience? at times, yes. Can an art work communicate to the artist? yes. But it's pretty obscure wouldn't you say? I'm also worried that someone will trip over the damn flower on the sidewalk and kill themselves, so if you wouldn't mind... best, Ed _______________________________________________ List address: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org Admin interface: http://lists.puptcrit.org/mailman/listinfo/puptcrit Archives: http://www.driftline.org
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