More on the Plastic Arts

In my definition of the plastic arts I say something like t color, pattern, and form used SOLELY to attract attention to something. That something may be a message. 

So, to return to the prior discussion, a fence, as exciting as it might be to include it in the category of art , would not be an example of art if it has a function beyond attracting attention - it is used to mark territory such as private property.  Similarly, the placement of red ochre on a burial may be classified as art, unless the red ochre was used as a something like a preservative, which, as it probably was not so used, would fit within the category of art. Dental decoration, which can be very  painful and cause many problems, serves no function that I can see, and thus would be an example of art, as would be tribal tattoos, intentional cranial deformation and, oh yes, the paintings we see in art museums, art galleries and neighborhood Sunday painters' exhibits. 

A however, if a daring young artist erected a fence in an art museum exhibit, and, as in the case of Dubuffet's urinal, art experts said it was art, it would be classified as art. And, ignoring the snobbery here, as the urinal or the fence, was placed there solely to attract attention to the object, it would be art by my definition.  The fact is that these artists were communicating something like "i am  expanding the definition of art," or "I am thumbing my nose at the art establishment" - is a topic for another day. 

A "problem" with this definition is that is ignores what is called fine art - art's snobbery, the snobbery that  results from the insistence that X is art if and only if some self-proclaimed art "expert" has decided it is art. My proposed definition would allow for the inclusion of all color form and pattern used solely to attract attention.... and, not just the color, form and pattern that the rich and elite hang on their walls or exhibit in their hallways. 

I used the word "problem" above, as this definition will be resisted by a vast number of people, those with other axes to grind.  

To be continued