Art, What is art? Options

[misoshiru]

Alright, this topic stems from a small debate in the graphics showcase about whether posterizing a picture is the same as vector/vexeling. But to expand on that, I'd like to raise up a question that is constantly debated today: so, what is art? Or, what constitutes art? Is it the fact that it is created or because it has an underlying meaning? Or just because the 'artist' or 'person who made it' calls it art, therefore it's art.

Also, I'd like to bring up the topic of computer graphics and photography. Vectoring and vexeling, could that go under the art category, or like photography, not truly be considered an art because that is simply the 're-making' or 'copying' of something else? Should art be confined only to the constrictions of old beliefs - the fact that you have to paint, or mold, or make something completely new to be considered as art? If so, then Andy Warhol's pop art should not be considered as art.

Okay, discuss.

[hi-C]

^ Yeah, I've been in a capitalist sort of mood lately. We've been talking about a similar topic in my Brit Lit class, the delimition of British literature. It's left me feeling a little jaded about the role of art and literature in society.

I do agree that there is an intrinsic quality in art worth more than market value - I'd have to, being an English major - but being the all powerful machine that it is, you can't deny its stranglehold on the culture at large.