Nothing to fear is art

[Nibelung]

Finally, after a long interlude, i have started thumbing through my copy of Adorno's Aesthetic Theory again(don't worry about me, i have a long commute, and i don't like reading under duress, so i only read what makes me fall asleep or stumble after every sentence) and what stuck out, was that Art should complete the emancipation from Fear. Incredible, a certain distance is needed from the effect, primarily from any emotion, not only the sensory apparatus. So that just means anything about Fear "Horror" as such is just on the way to Art, not really Art. On a slightly related note, Herder notes that the Sublime (to which Terror and Fear lend certain effect) is just a medium to Art.

[Tinker]

I don't understand this. What does the emancipation from fear have to do with it? I always saw the purpose of art to enhance and accentuate emotions, to communicate the sublime, the gaps between language.

[Fontinau]

[Nibelung]

Art for Art's sake then ?

If i understood Adorno correctly, everything is for the purpose of emancipation, even if the dialectic doesn't make progress look straightforward anyhow - so Fear should be part of Art, only if it helps get rid of it.

The accentuation or augmentation of emotions can be brought into this, since they are real for Adorno (IMHO, it's be interesting to see what Fear writ large plays for a role in his philosophy, seems to be either a Kierkegaardian residue or a reaction to Heidegger) - the gaps between language though, are only there since we assume that there IS meaning here, and not that it isn't there yet or if its impossible.

[Tinker]

First, who is Adorno and why should I care about what he says about art?

Second, I see the point you are making about emancipation, but I see art's primary purpose as being the cultivation of sensory perception. Improved sensory perception is emancipatory in a way. However I think the obsession with emancipation is its own form of bondage. Because then every action comes with the peremptory expectation that an action is liberating. Sometimes action is about discovery. Art for discovery's sake is not liberating, because you are already free. The only people who need to be emancipated are those who are not already free. And I don't mean that people who do art for discovery are always liberated, simply that sometimes we do art not for the purpose of feeling free, but because we already feel free.

[AzariLoveIran]

.

Has anybody come across a "definition of ART" that makes sense ? ?

If so, pls share the wisdom . .

.

[Tinker]

[AzariLoveIran]

[Hoosiernorm]

Where would you rank guernica?

[Tinker]

Define the ranking system.

[Hoosiernorm]

[Hoosiernorm]

How about beyond opinion

[Tinker]

I tend to rank paintings on a very subjective criteria. 'Does it elicit emotional response?' So it's hard to extract opinion from it.

[Hoosiernorm]

[Tinker]

Emotion is the precursor to meaning. We experience things through our senses, that are wired into the brain at different layers of complexity. However, it gets interpreted through emotion before it gets sent to the intellect where meaning is supplied.

[Hoosiernorm]

[Tinker]

Your use of the picture to illustrate your point evocatively, was artfully done.

[Hoosiernorm]

[Tinker]

You succeeded.

[Rhapsody]

Static visual art hardly triggers an emotion in my case. A very sad picture can, but I don't consider that art.

[Hoosiernorm]

Art that is designed to warn

[Tinker]

Hoosiernorm To me the ultimate judgement of art is whether or not it signifies that which it is intending to signify. In the case of what you posted, it accomplishes it's goal perfectly. Other times it's a matter of just highlighting some esoteric aspect of form, not something I am that into, but sure it's cool, especially if you make it epic. Otherwise I like when art can express something grand and ineffable, when you can just feel the emotional intensity radiating from the piece. It's much easier to do in person when you can see the intensity of the brush strokes. Most people don't get into the depth of seeing the brush strokes individually.

[Hoosiernorm]

[Demon of Undoing]

Incidentally, the man that took that photo killed himself some time after taking it.

He experienced that art fully . Nobody else did. The only concrete things we can say about it is what it is not . But whatever it is , he lived it to the fullest measure .

[Tinker]