How then would you explain Edgar Allan Poe, or for that matter The Shining - art that focuses on the hideous, morbid and bizarre?
I think it's more that the job of art is to escape normality, whether is presents a world that is better or worse than the real one, it should be different, otherwise what's the point.
What about art that portrays a negative ("ugly") in order to send a message - Brave New World for example.
I think these two views are compatible. Art does not necessarily have to avoid ugliness to chase the same away. Barthes "The New Citröen" has some things to say about beautiful technology; maybe we can talk about this more today!
10:42 AM
I just heard this quote from Bono of U2 on an Apple video and I thought it might bear some consideration:
"The job of art is to chase ugliness away . . . Apple have made beautiful machines."
I couldn't resist putting in the second part cause I dig Macs, but the first is interesting. Monsters are not supposed to be beautiful, so can the job of art be to chase monsters away? And though it's a plug for a big corporation, the idea of a corporate philosophy that is dedicated to producing aesthetic technology is pretty interesting. Technology is less frightening if it is fun, cool, pretty... unthreatening.
At the moment I am suffering from a severe fel d 1 reaction (see the Perfect Cat post) so I don't have the mental chutzpah to tackle the idea right away. I'll have a nap and get back to you. I think my brain sneezed right out.
"The Job of Art"
2 Comments -
How then would you explain Edgar Allan Poe, or for that matter The Shining - art that focuses on the hideous, morbid and bizarre?
I think it's more that the job of art is to escape normality, whether is presents a world that is better or worse than the real one, it should be different, otherwise what's the point.
What about art that portrays a negative ("ugly") in order to send a message - Brave New World for example.
7:40 PM
I think these two views are compatible. Art does not necessarily have to avoid ugliness to chase the same away. Barthes "The New Citröen" has some things to say about beautiful technology; maybe we can talk about this more today!
10:42 AM