I had an art course when I was in college where they talked about art as a medium to communicate ideas. While it was inevitable that that idea would be filtered through both the artist's expression of the idea and the viewer's interpretation, still the idea got through. But that theory stuck with me, and I formulated a saying: "I've long held that if a piece of art requires a little plaque next to it to tell you what it actually means, then it has failed. And if the artist says "It means whatever you want it to mean" then the artist has failed."
And when engaging with leftists who excuse all things as art, and therefore good, rather than quibble over whether signing a fake name to a urinal is art, it's better to argue that not all art is good. There can be Bad Art. And it certainly does not all merit public funding.
Devon is new to Substack, so I hope everyone who enjoys his writing on Twitter can give him a warm welcome to the platform, by "restacking" this post!
I had an art course when I was in college where they talked about art as a medium to communicate ideas. While it was inevitable that that idea would be filtered through both the artist's expression of the idea and the viewer's interpretation, still the idea got through. But that theory stuck with me, and I formulated a saying: "I've long held that if a piece of art requires a little plaque next to it to tell you what it actually means, then it has failed. And if the artist says "It means whatever you want it to mean" then the artist has failed."
And when engaging with leftists who excuse all things as art, and therefore good, rather than quibble over whether signing a fake name to a urinal is art, it's better to argue that not all art is good. There can be Bad Art. And it certainly does not all merit public funding.