Art for art’s sake.

I recently had to watch a video in my design class about bronze casting.  It followed this woman as she designed her sculpture and saw it come to life on an epic scale, with a whole team of welders and various other guys.

She simply directed them all.  Her manual work was finished when she finished her sketch.

It was a surreal piece.  She said that she wanted to test what could be art.  She didn’t have a meaning in mind.  She just had a thought, and let it drift, and threw it all together to see if people would look at it and say, “Wow, that’s art!”

Her whole crew.  All of the work of casting all of the individual pieces.  Just to push the boundaries of art.  Most people walking into the gallery wouldn’t have considered it much, and in that way, it was exclusive.

That’s not my complaint.  I like all kinds of art that others don’t “get”.

Her hands never once touched the finished piece.  She was a ringleader, directing her team.

Is it still your art, if it’s crafted by other people?

There was no reason for it.  There were no connections between the symbols.  There wasn’t a unifying theme, a message, an intent.  It was a test:  when they see this, will they see art?

Is it still art if it has no message?  No purpose?

My design teacher works in bronze.  She has often talked about how much her pieces sell for, and how it mostly covers what it costs her to create them.  Bronze is not cheap.  I imagine a team of welders isn’t cheap.

Is this justifiable when people are starving?

Creating for the sake of creating is good for the soul.  Messageless but beautiful art is too.  But is there a time when it’s just not okay?

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