What is art?

[Soulforged]

It is art commenting on itself!

That has become a genuine function of art in modern times, at least since the surrealists. This is a perfect example (bravo!) of an image that to the untrained eye looks like a fairly decent pipe advert, whereas if you followed developments in art in Magritte's time it was immediately obvious that this was a funny comment on faux realism.

I agree with you, but wouldn't that mean that the definition by Fischl doesn't apply in this case? (look at the bolded fragment)

[Adrian II]

I agree with you, but wouldn't that mean that the definition by Fischl doesn't apply in this case? (look at the bolded fragment)

I don't think so. The subject matter is immediately clear, it even says what it is. You see an image of a pipe and the warning 'this is not a pipe', in other words: 'This image is not about reality, it is about artsy pipe ideas inside you head.'

[Soulforged]

I don't think so. The subject matter is immediately clear, it even says what it is. You see an image of a pipe and the warning 'this is not a pipe', in other words: 'This image is not about reality, it is about artsy pipe ideas inside you head.'

Ok, then I've to wonder how did you interpret that part of his definition which says: "without him having to ask what the hell it is about". I'll tell you how I interpreted it: the unique experience he's talking about has to be generated upon the first view, a priori, there should be no need to read it or examine it. If we take Magritte's work, it's just the drawing of a pipe as any other on first sight, so we can hardly call that unique. What do you think?

[Adrian II]

If we take Magritte's work, it's just the drawing of a pipe as any other on first sight, so we can hardly call that unique. What do you think?

No, no, the painting itself says 'This is not a pipe'. So the clue is in the painting. It addresses the viewer: who said a painting of a pipe should look like a photo of a pipe shot from one angle?

Picasso would answer: 'Here, I'll paint you a pipe':




Pipe, verre, bouteille de Vieux Marc

[Guildenstern]

No, no, the painting itself says 'This is not a pipe'. So the clue is in the painting. It addresses the viewer: who said a painting of a pipe should look like a photo of a pipe shot from one angle?

René Magritte described his paintings by saying (from Wikipedia):

My painting is visible images which conceal nothing; they evoke mystery and, indeed, when one sees one of my pictures, one asks oneself this simple question, 'What does that mean?'. It does not mean anything, because mystery means nothing either, it is unknowable.

Interesting and funny.

[Ironside]

Somewhat on topic, does anybody know if there's an "art center" in the brain like there's for music?

You can for example have a broken memory (aka you cannot remember anything that happened "recently" (extended into years and decades as time passes), because the tranfer to the long-term memory is broken), while still being able to remember and learn new music under these conditions.

Anybody knows if a simular mechanism exists for art?
That is, that you can recognise something that you consider a piece of art that you saw after your memory went into almost full stasis? Or another method to actually see this.