Some “Truths” About Art
1. There is no agreed-upon definition of art
2. Art does not necessarily have to be beautiful
3. Art has been used to placate the gods and to create order and chaos
4. One contemporary artist sold a 2-inch part of his driveway as art
2. Art does not necessarily have to be beautiful
3. Art has been used to placate the gods and to create order and chaos
4. One contemporary artist sold a 2-inch part of his driveway as art
Some have said: "Modern Art looks like a kid could do it; in fact it looks like a monkey could do it.... In any case can a monkey really make art?"
Are Some Things Just Art too Weird to be Art?
In December 1977 Andy Warhol began to make a series of elegant, abstract paintings. These iridescent canvases, made up of coppery yellows, oranges and verdant green strokes, pools and drips, offered Warhol's viewer a sensuous and very physical enjoyment of paint, quite at odds with the crisper images one found in his Pop vocabulary.
Surprisingly, the only paint used by the artist in this very 'painterly body of work was that employed for the metallic gold ground. The blooms of color that effloresce over the pictorial space were created in quite a unique manner.
As Bob Colacello notes, "Andy paid Victor [Hugo] to be the 'collaborator' ... He would come to the Factory to urinate on canvases that had already been primed with copper-based paint by Andy" The uric acid would oxidize the metal in the copper ground, causing it to discolor, allowing for patterns to be created according to the 'movement' of the 'painter'.
Later, Ronnie Cutrone, one of Warhol's Factory assistants was asked to 'assist', much to the delight of the artist. According to Warhol, Cutrone took a lot of Vitamin B, which caused the copper pigment to oxidize a particularly 'pretty color' As Bruce Hainley notes. "Like ... blood. Urine is rich in DNA the Oxidations ... are portraits of Victor.
They're also self-portraits and portraits of assistant Ronnie Cutrone. Doggedly marked territories, they trace signs of identity, even if that identity is unknown (or unknowable)".
How flexible is your definition of what should and should not be included in the definition of art?
Can Animals Make Art?
Why Cat’s Paint; a theory of Feline Aesthetics - written by Heather Bush in 1990 argues that felines make cognitive aesthetic choices similar to humans. The Museum of Non Primate Art a supposedly internationally funded research organization sponsors a website that boasts examples of cat painting as well as “cat dancing”. Apparently collectors of cat art can purchase acrylic paintings scented with cat pee in New York for seventy thousand dollars and up. If your cat isn’t artistic maybe he’s into ballet, or you need to enroll it into a dance class.
Are you writing a check yet?
Are you writing a check yet?
Not to be out done by their advisories the most celebrated prolific four footed non primate artist is Tillie the dog. Tillie is a less collected however selling her paintings for a measly $200. Paintings done by Creative Elephants have been sold at the elite auction houses such as Christie's and shown in museums and galleries around the world. Do you want to test your resolve? Birds are getting into the act. MONPA has a site made of collected art from our friends the birds from bird droppings.
On a more serious note our friends the primates are of course are included in this attempt to make marks. The most serous seem to be Michael and Koko the Gorillas. Michael, who consequently has a large a vocabulary of sign language love to make marks with pencils, markers crayons and paints. The acrylic portrait of Michael’s pet dog “Apple” is very convincing that he knows what he is doing.
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