What art is

[droqen]

CHAPTER SIX
THE FUTURE OF AESTHETICS

oh hell yeah

[droqen]

p 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.

fascinating. i like this. i believe that what Danto is referring to here is the aesthetics of the invisible, that is, the aesthetics of the meaning and its embodiment, not only of the material object but the way that the meaning is attached to the object. i like also that Danto refers again and again to the same work, Brillo Box, and to the same concepts, visiting and revisiting differently. this is a good way to show the depth of a concept.

[droqen]

p 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.

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[droqen]

okay, this was quite a good book. i skimmed, i skipped great portions, and i may yet return to it for i've left it full of holes.
i like the way it ends. i like its structure: i find it quite inspiring. not as inspiring as Christopher Alexander's book-structures, but, usually i come away from a book sort of irritated with how they chose to lay out their ideas. not so with What art is.

i enjoyed my time with the book and i found the final chapter interesting, thought-provoking.