Quotep 149
My theory, in brief, is that works of art are embodied meanings. Because of works like Warhol's Brillo Box, Icould not claim that aesthetics is part of the definition of art. That is not to deny that aesthetics is part of art! It is definitely a feature. . .
p 150-151
. . . it is . . . false to say that aesthetics is the point of visual art. . . . But if aesthetics is not the point of art, what is the point of aesthetics?
This is too swift. I don't want to deny that there may be art, the point of which is aesthetic. . . but I can say that most of the art being made today does not have the provision of aesthetic experience as its main goal. And I don't think that was the main goal of most of the art made in the course of art history. . . . Now, it would be a major transformation in artistic practice if artists were to begin making art, the point and purpose f which was aesthetic experience. That would really be a revolution.
Quotep 146
I have said at times that if the indiscernible objects--Brillo Box and the Brillo carton--were perceptually alike, they must be aesthetically alike as well, but I no longer believe this true, mainly because of having brought some better philosophy to bear on the issue.
QuoteThe great thing about the sixties was the dawning recognition that anything could be a work of arti.e. as long as it is a waking dream, as long as it is an object imbued with meaning or which embodies meaning.
Quotewhy weren't [the original Brillo boxes] artworks if Andy's Factory-produced boxes were? I have answered this in my first chapterok, this is good. this is good. i think that it's a very good thing that Danto refers back to the first chapter: he isn't going to rug-pull me in the conclusion and say, oh, here's what i really meant this whole time. no, he opens with his idea of what art is. the rest of the book is just... exploration of a space. beautiful! i love it! as a structure, i really love this.
Quotep 48-49
I . . . define art as "wakeful dreams." . . . everyone, everywhere, dreams. Usually this requires that we sleep. But wakeful dreams require of us that we be awake. . . . they can be shared. They are accordingly not private. . .
. . . One argument for the End of Art is that it rests on the fact that art and reality are in certain cases indiscernible. I thought if art and reality were indiscernible, we had somehow come to the end. Art and reality could and principle be visibly the same. But I had not realized at the time that the differences are invisible, . . . they [can] have different meanings and different embodiments.
Quotep 46-47
Warhol at first thought he would save money and labor by using ordinary cardboard boxes from the wholesaler. But the edges and corners were too soft and rounded. They were inconsistent with his vision. So he had to take the route of fabrication and stenciling. The stencil gave perfect similarity, but you could not stencil the physical properties of the box. Cardboard is perfect for shipping but not for geometry, whose properties Warhol wanted for his boxes. Sharp corners and edges, as Judd was aware, belong to a dream of exactitude.