ART

Pictographs on Newspaper Rock in Canyonlands, Utah.
Historians credit some of the etchings, through black "desert varnish" on sandstone, to those living and passing through the area as far back as 2000 years up to when the park service put up a fence to keep us from continuing the tradition of leaving messages on this rock.
It is a pretty area with trees and a stream in a small valley in the middle of Utah rocky desert (my photo); many probably wandered through in the past seeking water.
I like the guy in the middle that looks like Bart Simpson!
There is an image of a person on a horse shooting an elk or deer in the butt with a long arrow in upper right part of the rock. Horses were introduced here by the Spanish about 1650, so this etching is fairly current. It is believed that the Utes (from which comes "Utah") were the first to have the horse and by early 1700s all tribes had access to the horse for transportation or food.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

But the main question on my mind though is "what is ART?". A recent query of 27 people in Kansas City in preparation for an art fair yielded a range of responses as printed in the KC Star. My favorite was from Julie and Gary White who answered "The guy that makes those potato chips". I don't know this guy but perhaps he is Art.

Is a beautiful natural view of the moon rising over Half Dome in Yosemite ART or does Ansel Adams have to photograph it in black and white, reproduce it on paper, and hang it on the wall, for it to become art? (Is a beautiful view in the mountains art if no one sees it? -- An arty koan)

The last time I was in an Art Museum I heard no music, read no poems, saw no books , and witnessed no chimes or moving objects except for those displayed by digital expression on a screen. What to make of this?
I consider all of these expressions to have the potential to move me emotionally or visually -- part of my definition but maybe not all of it. I guess remaining would be that art would have to come from someone as an expression of their view or feel of life. This would eliminate those paintings by animal tails dipped in paint or the spinning disk with paint dropped on, at the County Fairs.
It would also eliminate nature not painted or photographed ---- which bothers me. I can find an emotional or visual response in myself with a view in the woods, not reproduced.
So, still a question . . .








"Root Ubris" by Andrey Lev
via moon river
(Oil and markers and poliontan on masonite)

I like this art because of the detail and possibility for engagement.

I shall include it in my definition

Thanks Princess