Everything is Art

The surest way to destroy a concept is to expand it to mean everything. Over the last century, art has been the victim of such a practice. The new belief is that anything intended to be "art" is art. Is this circular? Of course it is. It is also the only possible definition left, since toilets, blank canvasses, fire engine sirens, and people urinating on stage have been accepted as art.

The attempt to use the term 'art' to describe these creations is an attempt to steal the value of art. The new artists don't produce anything of value, but they call it art in the hopes that people will accept it as such. Since real art is important to people, the new "artists" hope to trick people into giving their own garbage the same respect. They try to steal the respect for art by confusing their own work with it. This has the effect of destroying respect for art.

Art is not everything, or anything an "artist" says is "art". Art has an objective meaning, and an fulfills an objective need for people. The meaning has been obfuscated by those trying to cash in on the honor and value that goes with art. By ignoring the objective meaning of art, people lose the ability to fulfill an important part of their life. The destruction of art as a concept impairs one's life.


Copyright © 2001 by Jeff Landauer and Joseph Rowlands