[braughton]

What is art? This guy appears to be selling blank canvases. Is this art??? Toronto just had the annual "Nuit Blanche" an all-night art festival. I saw woman in a wedding dress with a DEAD LAMB wrapped in gauze and slung over her shoulders. She was doing the step-pause-step-pause march down the street. It was deeply disturbing. I if a creative endeavour evokes an emotional, intellectual or spiritual reaction with me, it's art. Even if I hate it, it's still art. Anyone else seen some really messed up art? How did it affect you? (to further clarify - the wedding dress woman's lamb was one of those whole lambs from the butcher that's ready to be put on the spit. Skinned but recognizable.

[teich]

well, a blank canvas is more appealing than some works of art I have seen.

[pollick]

I wonder if he's the scammer or the scammee? Did HE pay over $100 for a blank stretched canvas ed "minimal art" worth about $20 from an art supply store? Or is he hoping to russle up some cash? Or is it really art? It is, after all, slightly convex.

[Hedvig]

maybe he is like a kid going around the neighborhood selling people rocks he found in their own front yard.

[belmont]

Not art. He might like it but I do not consider it art. If anyone can do it, it's not art. imho

[dimock]

can't anyone dress up in a bridal gown and sling a dead animal over her shoulders? Anyone can do that, but would they think to do it? What would it mean to them? What would it mean to you?

[heady]

To me it takes no skill to do it and who would appreciate that particular example. People might appreciate the mind that thought it up but the result was not art. To me it means nothing.

[wilkie]

the bride or the blank canvas means nothing? Or both? Not art? And, I'm being nit-picky here, what do you mean by "if anyone could do it" or "skill"? It's really hard to define art by those standards, because then you start to argue about what exactly is considered to be skilled work. Most people could execute some of Rothko's work: / Is all of his work art, or is some of the simple work not art? Is it art because he'd produced more complex works previously? Is it art in context? If you'd never heard of Rothko and say a canvas for sale on CL for $200 that had an orange and a black rectangle on it, would you say it's not art?

[barson]

Part of what makes art Art is context and some believe that what people Art IS Art. Hmmm.... Heady stuff, FD, thanks for the brain workout. (It's making me think! Ow! Ow!)

[agler]

Exactle how insane is that. I could pour salt on the table, spit in it and say there, that's art

[mignon]

But that could be really beautiful... Someone was reminding me of this artist a few days ago... Andy Goldsworthy. He makes art out in nature, using natural materials... I think his stuff is heartbreakingly beautiful.

[eckhoff]

wow!!!

[Rhianna]

I adore his stuff. Check out Wolfgang Leib, too. What that man does with milk, or feathers, or anything else, is utterly amazing.

[ricco]

This made my day, thank you. I've seen this kind of spirit in a few of the chefs I've worked for as well. It's very difficult for me to access, I think it's just going to take a lot of wandering around in nature and just looking and absorbing. Because some of those pics look like nature could have done it if she was in the mood, which is how those chefs want their food to look as well. A very different aesthetic compared to overly controlled and teased platings. To paraphrase Mario Batali, the food in his restaurant should look like an army of grandmothers cooked it for you, not a bunch of French guys who were beaten as children.

[trowell]

Can't except that I'm afraid

[kness]

A shame, really. The pursuit of a more expansive definition, and enjoyment, of art has improved my life immeasurably, and in ways I couldn't imagine when I clung, frightened, to the "myyear old could do that! It's not art!" perspective.

[cashdollar]

Why? Can't I enjoy and go further into the depths of what I find capturing and intriguing. I am happy as is :-)