Good Morning Boys and Girls.
Katie bar the door and Frank close the windows. Those of you with short short-term memories get out your slate and chalk, and those of you with short long-term memories fetch a chisel and grab some granite because today, class, even the smallest of your pumpkin heads is going to fully understand the answer to the question that drove Socrates to drink and Nietzsche to dementia, which is...
What is Art?
And so, without further ado, here is the answer...
Art is communication between human beings without word/symbols, about mutually shared conditions of being alive.
OK, that's it, Katie go unbar the door, Frank go open the win...What? You don't understand? (Why me Lord?)...OK, sit back down and I'll explain...
When we use the term "Art", it has an essence. An essence akin to the Socratic belief that the purpose of, for example, a hammer, is in its function, that is, to hammer. The purpose of the word "Art" is to identify and delimit this sub-conscious to sub-conscious communication and therein lies the word's essence. All other applications of the word are really entirely different words but the english language has unhappily evolved such carefree confusions.
Now wait just one cotton picking minute, you might say, What about that certain knowing glance across a room between two lovers, no words are said, yet shared information passes...Excuse me...SIT BACK DOWN WO'N, STOP STARING AT ALL THE LADIES!...now where was I? Oh yes...No, that is not Art, that is merely a visual symbol of mutual understanding without words, like a handshake. Now I will take some of your questions...
Bright boy in the back: Uh, Mister Milum, is Art the object or is Art the sub-conscious communication? And what happens if the object doesn't provoke an unspoken and unspeakable feeling in me, is it Art?
Milum: No. It only becomes Art when it speaks to your sub-conscious. If the object evokes a feeling that can be put into words it is not Art. Art, as we all know, is very subjective. No example of Art can be said to be universal, at least none that we know of.
Cute pert blonde in short skirt on the front row: Hello Mister Milum, first I'd like to say what a pleasure it is to have a man of your high reputation around here to help us learn about all these important things. Ahem...My question might be a little silly but I'd like to know if once an object becomes a work of Art by the transfer of non-verbal information, does it stay a work of Art or not? I'll sit down and listen to your answer.
Milum: Well I'll say this, I don't think your question was silly. I think it was a good question. No! It was a brilliant question. Thank you for your question. Ahem...Let me cite the Campbell Soup Can Pop Art of Andy Warhol as an example; In his pop screen prints he caused others to focus on the beauty and form of everyday manufactured objects around us. But once this was realized his silk screens and paintings have only worth as collector items, such as baseball cards, with maybe a minor value as artifacts for psychological historians of the future.
Class dismissed.
Milum.
