if art really matters

I was being a bit facetious, i suppose, with my purple chair (it was an allusion to a previous private conversation on this very matter, and it struck me as so very sharp from that person, and is so very not from me)

But, I actually don't think the precise standard of greatness is as important as the agreement that such a standard should exist and be lofty.

Beauty is not about pretty.
Inspiration is not about happy. 

-- Julie Ann Cook 

One can be inspired to righteous rage, and find beauty in a rusting hulk in the boatyard. It is vital not that we agree that something inspires or that something is beautiful, but that we agree that art should strive for those things and great art will achieve those things.

Bad art is irrelevant, except in as much as it chews away at the flesh of culture. It is great art that must be celebrated and defended.

I totally and completely agree that a great artist could paint a chair and arrange flowers and create something sublime.