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What defines contemporary art?

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Argument one:  The inclusion of elements of mass culture that  inhibit elitism 

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Argument one:  The inclusion of elements of mass culture that  inhibit elitism 

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Art's Relationship to pop Culture

" We wanted not just to chronicle and H celebrate but also to understand in greater depth the dialogue between high modern art and certain aspects of popular cultures, such as advertising, graffiti, comics, and caricature-to grasp the origins of that interchange, its development, and its recurring structures, in order to see what that history might tell us about modern life."

In modern and contemporary art's high culture, artists often reference culture, an area previously outlawed from "major" or "high" surfaces. This book's authors continuously highlight contemporary art has role in inclusion. How it reflects and brings together people in ways traditional art sometimes rejects. That modern/contemporary art in itself not only creates space but demands to participation of its audience as that is the only way in which the art can be understood.

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". The authentic expression of feeling was more likely to be encountered among the illiterate peasants of the village than among the faculty of the academy. Notions such as these found their way into the programs that some artists and poets set themselves. "We must become children again if we want to attain the best wrote the painter Philipp Otto Runge in 1802, in a letter in which he denounced the futility of conventional art study,". This quote supports the notion that the achievement of "good" art is not directly linked to the idea of high education or knowledge but rather to the inherent nature of all people. That authentic expression was hence ruined by the need to be respected in technique and production.

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argument two:  The rejection of traditional Hierarchies defines contemporary art 

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argument two:  The rejection of traditional Hierarchies defines contemporary art 

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Varnedoe and Gopnik imply that popular culture becomes a tool for modern art as it interrogates the hierarchy of high fine art vs. low mass culture at its pinnacle and nadir, respectively. They maintain that raising aspects of popular culture creates contemporary art that is more accessible and addresses a multicultural world. It upends traditional hierarchies of power in the art world and proposes a more egalitarian concept of artistic value. Instead of art solely being graded by my academics and scholars, it is judged by the entirety of the audience witnessing it. This dismantles the system that only allows critically acclaimed art to see the light of day, thus allowing any artist daring enough to let their art been seen a chance.

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the work of street artists, such as Banksy, further illustrates this idea. Banksy’s art, which is rooted in the language of street culture, often incorporates political statements and critiques of society, proving that the "street" can serve as a significant site for high cultural dialogue.

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argument 1 : the idea that contemporary art changes the definition of art

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argument 1 : the idea that contemporary art changes the definition of art

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A significant aspect of Davies's work is the objection to essentialist art accounts, which prioritize 'inherent' aesthetic properties such as beauty, form, or originality. Davies criticizes these reductive theories as too simplistic to account for modern society's wide-ranging diversity of art. He claims that art should not be understood as the products of aesthetically pleasing creations or artistic craftsmanship, but rather art should be viewed from social and cultural vantage points.

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Davies points out that conceptual art, such as works by artists like Yoko Ono or Damien Hirst, may lack traditional aesthetic beauty but are still considered art because they provoke thought, engage with social issues, or challenge artistic norms.

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theory of art, which says that something is art not by its properties but because someone with a position in license-issuing institutions such as museums, galleries and critics recognises it as such. By this theory, a piece of work is art only if the right institutions consider it to be so. This approach may also explain why what seems like artless or lowly objects or activities are also art.

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James Perkins’s Burying Paintings is a perfect example of how institutional recognition plays a crucial role in defining art. While the process of burying canvases in nature might not fit traditional ideas of art-making, its inclusion in galleries and exhibitions establishes it as art.

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The concept that Banksy implores actively negates the concept of art needing to be particularly sophisticated or academically accredited in order to be considered art. The art he produces is not unique or particularly individual in technique or end result; rather, it is the context in which he places them that constitutes its significance. He actively combats the elitism trope as he makes his art automatically accessible to people by placing it in the context in which they live. He's able to make social and political contributions to the conversation by reflecting the society in which he creates

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Davies' conceptual work and Perkins's Burying Paintings — provide examples that art, in other words, is defined by context and intention and acknowledgment of its art-ness as opposed to its meeting specified guidelines with respect to beauty or form. Contemp: art has evolved from narrow, aesthetic-decided definitions to the much richer ground of humanistic meaning; the artist's intent, the conceptual frame & the institution's support play an important part in what happens and must be seen as large.

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Varnedoe K, Gopnik A, Museum of Modern Art, et al. High & Low : Modern Art [and] Popular Culture. Museum of Modern Art; 1990.

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Davies, Stephen. “The Definition of Art.” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, edited by Edward N. Zalta, Fall 2024 Edition, Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University, 2024,

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The essence of Davies’s argument regarding conceptual art is that the beauty or form of a certain creation does not inherently qualify it as art, and that factors like intent and institutional recognition often shape our understanding of what is in fact considered art. Likewise, Banksy whose work is also deeply enmeshed with street culture and public presence confronts the regressive idea that art must inhabit gallery spaces or contexts in a prescribed fashion. Similarly to Davies's conceptual art examples, Banksy's art is not an art because of its aesthetic value or other qualities it possesses; rather, they are identified as art pieces because they garner attention and critique the customs of society Up until 2020 In both cases, this means that institutional endorsement and public audition are paramount in determining how these works are read and filed.