Skip to main content Help Control Panel

Shakespeare's Monkeys

Infinite Monkeys. Infinite Typewriters.

More in How much of art comes from the artist?

How much of art comes from the artist?

<< Previous Next >>

I feel like yelling, "Focus! Focus!".

I ask Rene, is paint-by-numbers art? My answer would be, "Yes, but only slightly." It is much more art to paint without numbers. Similarly, to sew without a pattern is more art than to sew with a pattern; to sew from a pattern someone else made is less art than to sew with a pattern you made.

However, all this was not really central to my point, which was whether art should communicate an artist's intent. If you made a shirt and someone tried to use it for a hat, you would not consider that an acceptable "interpretation" of your artistry. Similarly, if you cooked up a vegetable casserole and someone served it after the dessert, you would not think your creation had been fully understood or properly appreciated.

I think that art requires an artist; and the more his/her involvement, the more it is art, even if it is bad art (i.e., poorly done). I also think that if that art is comprehended differently than the artist intended, it has either been inadequately executed, inadequately understood, or both. On the other hand, if it comprehended as the artist intended, and the perceiver is capable of getting even more from it, that's wonderful.

Alcuin

by Alcuin of York on Feb. 1 2008