Mis-Conception

I started browsing the archives of Malfunction Junction this afternoon. It's a pretty amusing comic at times but I happened to read one on Art. I haven't finished reading the archives so I'm really not sure how far this guy's interests in art go. It wouldn't surprise me if he was an art student (current or former) like a number of other webcartoonists.

The comic in question clearly states his position on what is and isn't art, which also happens to be my own position as well. Except that I still respect that statement "everything is art" even if it's not entirely practical. I'm quite elitest when it comes to art and while I feel that films and comics and video games can be art, mostly they aren't - they're entertainment. It annoys me when pretensious advocates of any of these mediums claim every work in their particular genre to be a work of art.

Craft has long been derided by artists and art critiques and was always seperated from art. I think that they felt artworks have a higher calling than simple functionality. In more recent years many crafts have been embraced by artists especially feminist artists. Where does this leave more traditional craftspeople? My mother is an avid quilter and our house is filled with beautiful quilts. But I don't think of her quilts as artworks either. I think when I told my mother this she was offended, she might consider each quilt to be "a work of art" which is fair enough. My problem is that she has a different understanding of what art is from me and because of that I don't agree that her quilts are art. The intention that Duchamp placed on his fountain which made it so profound came with a deep understanding and knowledge that many do not possess, my mother included.

Maybe those without that deep understanding and knowledge are merely producing "bad" art. If that's true is it so surprising I don't want them associated with art at all? I think it's because I love conceptual art so much. Art that can look as crap as it wants because it's about something more than looks. Like I said, I'm an elitest.

Edit: It turns out he went to art school for three and a half years.