Bromo33333
Member
Great heavens!! Why all this intense reaction to someone else's OPINION??
I don't happen to share the same viewpoint, but hammering anyone's opinion into a gauge of "rightness" or "wrongness" defeats the entire entire process of "connecting to another being"!
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What I see here is really[sic] not an argument over whether photography - or anything else - is art or not; It is the classic discussion of "Creativity" or "Capture".
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In my book it is the recognition of the "art" ... that ultimatey mystical process that fires our consciousness and causes us to begin the process of "capture". The factors affecting this are - or are close to, infinite - our life experiences; our "conditioning"; our education, social pressures, desire to "belong".... when do we get to infinty?
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I think I just said. "The media is NOT the `art'". Closely related, though.
Am I "right"? *I* think so - but I doubt (seriously - BIG TIME) that everyone else out there will agree.
We were trying to convey 3 major points.
1. The main argument of "what is art and what is not art" is really subtle since most people when presented with a painting and ask if they think it is art - even if it is representational - will say "yes" and if you were to show them Duchamp's "Fountain" (fountain) they would likely say "no" even though it was a very influential art piece. If you were to show them a picture of the urinal or painting to a bystander, they might say "no" or "yes" depending upon if they thought it was a tourist snap shot or some sort of intended art.
2. One of the main factors in art is intent. While this is a modern definition, the photo as described in #1, the bystander is trying to guess the intent. (And this is usually based upon something they have seen before as defined as "art" or "not art").
3. It seems one of the original posters is trying to figure out (in very long and overly flowered prose) where he fits in the "illustration/art" hierarchy, OR is trying to say that everyone else here is not an artist (thereby placing himself at the "top") - this ranking is the part that is ultimately futile and somewhat incendiary.
And the bottom line is that Ayn Rand herself, in _The Fountainhead_ denounced those that look to others for approval, ESPECIALLY in artistic/architectural endeavors. The whole book was about this. So people wringing their hands about whether Ayn Rand thinks photography is art or not (asking for HER approval) - is a rather rich irony.