Interstellar_1Duchamp's Fountain (more images in post)
sad_detective_manFountain is unfashionably based. I’ve used this to reassure my cousin who started painting for his PTSD and got told by a bunch of shitheads that he wasn’t a “Real Artist” when he sold some art.
This stuff is a litmus test for when you’re in a culture war with people trying to hide the fact they’re warring with you on every front they can
Only people who don’t understand art say that people “aren’t real artists.” It’s the most obvious way to know that someone’s opinion isn’t worth listening to.
You’re only “not an artist” if you’re not making art. If you make something and don’t want it to be art, then it’s not art, and you’re not an artist.
That’s about it as not artist goes.
That got me thinking;
a welder creating a sculpture: artist
a welder making a tool: artisan
Is the tool a functional piece of art?
It can be. If presented as art, then yes. If crafted so masterfully that it’s perceived as art, then also yes.
If neither intended nor received as art: no.
The functional contains beauty. It can be artistic to remind someone that functionality is a type of beauty. It’s also possible to create an expression of form so perfectly that you can’t help but notice the beauty.
While attempting to find some images of beautiful tools (I was thinking fine wood carving tools from the mid 1800s were a good bet), I found this: fortune.com/…/beauties-of-the-common-tool-walker-… I think it does a good job conveying the notion. :)
