Maybe this is the difficulty with the answer to “What is Art?” which is currently (I believe), “Anything the artist says is Art.”
It reflects the spirit of the age, of course: “A woman is anyone who says they are a woman.” But it reduces the term involved to meaninglessness, surely, and especially if the number of people who think a guitar stuck to a washing machine is art is minuscule and self-selecting.
I’m not necessarily attacking that sort of “art” because I quite like the playfulness of Fountain (‘Fountain‘, Marcel Duchamp, 1917, replica 1964 | Tate), for example. And it may be that I just don’t like the piece Mark referred to (which is true!).
BUT it’s reminiscent of what I’ve seen of American cuisine: using a bunch of prepared ingredients to make a dish.
. It reflects the spirit of the age, of course:
Perhaps, but I’d answer yes and no - the piece is over forty years old and I think if it was made today it would be seen more in the context of recycling than it was at the time. At the time the interplay between a slightly rusty old domestic twin-tub and the usually glamourous guitar was probably the main reading. Actually, after posting the original Tate Britain photo and seeing the response, I wished I’d used the photo in my first draft, rather than the link to Tate because the humour is more apparent from the front, when you see the guitar slung low in a parody of some rock stars back in the day
BUT it’s reminiscent of what I’ve seen of American cuisine: using a bunch of prepared ingredients to make a dish.
Don’t disagree with your opinion of US recipes, but I’d argue that part of what makes the work ‘good’ is leaving it connected to the washing machine with its negative cut-outs. There’s an interplay between the sculpture’s two elements.
Thanks for your email,
Mark
Sorry, I was thinking the answer to “What is Art?” being “Anything the artist says is Art” reflects the spirit of the present age: “A woman is anyone who says they are a woman", but I see what you mean about art reflecting current matters to (and current fears: all of those series in the 60s about alien invaders …).
But thanks for taking the time to post that photo, which shows (as you say) the original exhibit much more clearly. I get it now!
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Now I see it, now I appreciate it, and I agree it shows artistic skill.
But if someone does not appreciate it that doesn’t mean that they don’t know anything about art, it simply means that one person’s perception of what is good and interesting can be different to another person’s.
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