What Is Anti-Art?
What is Anti-Art?
Introduction
I am going to be writing about anti-art and what it is. I feel that before I can fully explore this concept in more depth, I must first look at the question ‘What is art?’ and ‘How do we know it is art?‘.
To understand what art is, you have to look at its surroundings, the art world, you have the people who make the art work, the painters, the sculptors etc. Then you have the people that exhibit the work, and finally you have the viewers, the people who attend galleries to see the work.
“The reason that a particular thing is a work of art is not (and never has been) that is possesses a certain observable characteristic or characteristics but because it has acquired a status within the art world”#
Chapter 1
Anti-art is a term, ‘It is generally agreed to have been coined by Marcel Duchamp around 1913 when he made his first ready-mades, which are still regarded in some quarters as Anti-art (for example by the Stuckist group)’.# The term ready-mades was used in America at this point to distinguish between mass produced items and those that were hand made, Duchamp used this term because that is exactly what his work was, he was using already existing objects, but by repositioning, titling and signing them, they then became art. This was his rebellion against what he called “retinal art”, art that was only visual, and so looked for a new way to express his concepts. One of his theories was to try to take his own tastes out of the work he created,
“Cabanne: What determined your choice of ready-mades? Duchamp: That depended on the object. In general, I had to beware, at the end of fifteen days, you begin to like it or hate it. You have to approach something with indifference, as if you had no aesthetic emotion. The choice of ready-mades is always based on visual indifference and, at the same time, on the total absence of good or bad taste.”# The term anti-art is a combination of the words ’anti’ meaning, ‘“against,”
Introduction
I am going to be writing about anti-art and what it is. I feel that before I can fully explore this concept in more depth, I must first look at the question ‘What is art?’ and ‘How do we know it is art?‘.
To understand what art is, you have to look at its surroundings, the art world, you have the people who make the art work, the painters, the sculptors etc. Then you have the people that exhibit the work, and finally you have the viewers, the people who attend galleries to see the work.
“The reason that a particular thing is a work of art is not (and never has been) that is possesses a certain observable characteristic or characteristics but because it has acquired a status within the art world”#
Chapter 1
Anti-art is a term, ‘It is generally agreed to have been coined by Marcel Duchamp around 1913 when he made his first ready-mades, which are still regarded in some quarters as Anti-art (for example by the Stuckist group)’.# The term ready-mades was used in America at this point to distinguish between mass produced items and those that were hand made, Duchamp used this term because that is exactly what his work was, he was using already existing objects, but by repositioning, titling and signing them, they then became art. This was his rebellion against what he called “retinal art”, art that was only visual, and so looked for a new way to express his concepts. One of his theories was to try to take his own tastes out of the work he created,
“Cabanne: What determined your choice of ready-mades? Duchamp: That depended on the object. In general, I had to beware, at the end of fifteen days, you begin to like it or hate it. You have to approach something with indifference, as if you had no aesthetic emotion. The choice of ready-mades is always based on visual indifference and, at the same time, on the total absence of good or bad taste.”# The term anti-art is a combination of the words ’anti’ meaning, ‘“against,”