What Is Not Art
74HubPages is currently running a HubPatron of the Arts contest. Recently, contest rules brought up some very interesting questions about art, photography, paintings, and computer generated images.Which of these is art, and which is not art?
In particular, it was made clear by contest organizer Simone Smith that non-photo art entries will not be disqualified from the contest, but ...
I don't think it would have a shot at winning any of the judge-based prizes.
~~[ Simone Smith ]
Why is this?
- Are photographs a superior art form?
- Are paintings not considered art, and therefore are not worthy of winning an art contest?
- Are computer generated images art? Certainly some people reject computer art as being on par with true art.
- What about a photograph of a painting? Since that is technically a photograph, it should be considered worthy by Simone's definition.
- What about a photograph of a computer generated painting? By the same rule as above, shouldn't it be art worthy as well?
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Are Paintings Not Art?
The sunflower photograph shown above is a clear example of what qualifies as art, according to HubPages.
What about a painting of sunflowers instead of a photograph. Is that art, or not art?
Does Van Gogh's masterpiece have a shot at winning any of the HubPages contest judge-based prizes?
On first glance, it would seem that Van Gogh is out of luck. After all, his piece of so-called art is painted with oil on canvas, and not a glorious photograph. But wait, there is a loophole!
Technically, the image below is a photograph. It is a photographic reproduction of Van Gogh's oil painting, but it is a photograph nevertheless. This is what is stated on its Wikimedia Commons page-
This is a faithful photographic reproduction of an original two-dimensional work of art.
~~[ Wikimedia Commons ]
Therefore, it would seem that Van Gogh's work is safely considered as art, but only in photographic reproduction format. Lucky Van Gogh!
Now, all he has to do is take photos of the rest of his art collection, and enter them into the contest.Then, he is free to use the originals as kindling.
Are Computer Generated Images Not Art?
What about computer generated sunflowers, are they worthy to be called art?
I rendered the image below using Carrara 8, and then integrated it with a photograph background of a forest. Is this image art?
It is partially a photograph, so what will the HubPages judges say?
The Van Gogh Loophole
Ah, but wait, I can use the Van Gogh loophole!
All I need to do is take a photograph of my computer generated sunflowers, similar to how the Sompo Japan Museum of Art took a photograph of Van Gogh's masterpiece.
Below, I show the photograph of my digital sunflower masterpiece. It is a direct shot of my laptop screen. Next, I load the photograph into PhotoShop, and crop it to only show the sunflower art.
Technically, it is now a photograph, and should have a good shot at winning the HubPages Art contest judge-based prizes, yes?
However, the cropped version of the digital sunflowers is a faithful reproduction of the original digital image. Therefore, the two images look very much alike. Why then is one more worthy than the other?
I do not know for sure, but the answer is likely 42.
Do you think photography is the only worthy form of art?
See results without votingWhat Is Not Art?
Personally, I find the HubPages contest rule that precludes non-photographic images from being considered as winning art entries to be more than a little bit odd.
Art consists of picking good subjects, posing, composition, perspective, lighting, framing, and rendering technique. Whether we choose to take a photograph, use oil on canvas, or render an image using 3D software, it is all art!
Art may be created on different mediums, but it is art nevertheless.
When we try to narrowly define art based on archaic notions of what art should be, we run into strange logical conundrums as I have illustrated above.
In truth, there is no gray area here. There is only the usual artistic prejudice of certain mediums or styles over others.
Above is a picture of an artist, creating a sunflower photograph on canvas. According to HubPages, this makes her a real artist.
But wait, she is a virtual character that originated from my imagination. Therefore, she cannot be real, can she?
If I took a photograph of her, would that make her real, or would it steal her virtual soul?
I think Edvard Munch said it best.
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That is a very good point.
We are often willing to pay a very high price for convenience.
hi shibashake, I dont know if you have a chance in the contest but you sound the artist to me. I think hubpages favors photographic images to simplify matters. yeah I would just take a photograph of anything I considered art and send it in. contests are always a pain in the butt. A picture of a urinal is ART.
Hahaha, yeah I love Munch's piece. When I feel a bit overwhelmed, I think of that image and it makes me feel better.
Thanks for your wonderful comments holdmycoffee, drbj, and shadowprancer. They are greatly appreciated.
Nice commentary and I really like your images.
You covered this topic elegantly, shibashake, but I have to admit Edvard Munch did have the last word! :)
Very interesting hub with good humor. Enjoyed reading this.
Oh no! Artistic integrity so easily defeated by textual classification. :)
I am getting flashbacks of President Clinton when he said "I did not have *bleep* relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky."
"Because we do not have a generic 'images' category,"
Hmmm, is there a way to add an image galleries category? Or perhaps relax our interpretation of what a photo is? You are all powerful Simone, I am sure "you got the power!" :D
"It would be very strange for a collection of watercolors, for example, to win the 'photo galleries' section of our contest. People would be angry at me."
lol. I guess it does not seem very strange to me. After all, if comedy can be judged next to discussions on religion and fate, next to stories of spiritual enlightenment, fairy-tales, ghosts, and monsters, then having watercolors judged together with photographs seem rather tame by comparison.
As for the angry people, I will beat them down for you with a stick.
Thwack!
Fabulous, fabulous Hub!
I do not think that photographs should hold any precedence over paintings. All forms of art have equal potential in my book!
Of course, for this contest, the issue came down to one of categorizations. To run the contest, we had to choose specific categories to which people could submit entries. Because we do not have a generic 'images' category, I chose to go with our photo galleries category, since, while we have few digital imaging experts, illustrators, and painters on our site, we have a large community of people who own cameras and take photos with them.
Like I said, we won't DQ other sorts of images from that category, but because the category is really designed for photographs, submissions with other sorts of images just don't make as much sense. It would be very strange for a collection of watercolors, for example, to win the 'photo galleries' section of our contest. People would be angry at me. Which would make me cry. Which would make my face get red and puffy. Which leads to embarrassing photos. Which could turn into embarrassing digital images. I'm going to stop now...
But this is an awesome Hub, and an awesome defense of ALL media!! Well done :D
"Maybe... your hub will win something anyway!"
LOL! We win just by participating. ;)
"but the contest is not an art contest, per se, it is a photography contest."
But that is precisely my point -
1. Why is it just a photography contest in a general Arts contest? This is what is stated in the official contest page-
"Because HubPages has such a vibrant community of poets, fiction writers, and *artists*, we created the HubPatron of the Arts Contest to let their beautiful work shine!"
2. Is the photograph of Van Gogh's piece a photograph or a painting? Technically, it is a photograph. So is it valid?
3. If that is the case, then shouldn't photographs of computer generated sunflowers also be valid?
In this day and age, there is a very thin line between the different art mediums and it is strange that a general Arts contest would have such a narrow definition as to what constitutes visual art, especially when the other categories do not have similar restrictions.
I do not see how such a rule is necessary or how it enhances the contest, but perhaps I am missing something.
This is very interesting and would be valid, but the contest is not an art contest, per se, it is a photography contest.
I like your images. They are art. I don't do photos either, but I do drawings... sort of. In my opinion they are as much 'art' as a photo of something.
I think the distinction is a bit of a shame as there is a heap of visual imagery available which is not strictly speaking a photo.
Maybe... your hub will win something anyway!
Happyboomernurse Level 8 Commenter 6 months ago
Very interesting hub. You made a lot of great points.
Loved the picture of the virtual artist painting real art.