Art in the Ancient World Introduction A U G G U S T I I N N E E C O L L E G G E
C Art that ‘gets to you’ 2 A general question relevant to this: ‘How do I find what has most to do with me?’ (a) The significance of this question (b) The role of ‘taste’
Tran sl at i on of a 1 6 t h - C work by LORE NZO SCUPOLI
“When you see a thing with your eyes, or visualise it in your mind, keep a firm grip on your desires and do not allow yourself at the first glance either to conceive a liking for the thing or a dislike for it, but examine it in a detached way with the mind alone.” SCUPOL I, 9 1
“Unobscured by passion, the mind then … is free and pure, and has the possibility to know the truth and to penetrate into the depths of a thing, where evil is often concealed under a deceptively attractive exterior and where good is sometimes hidden under a bad appearance.” SCUPOL I, 9 1
“But if desire comes first and at once either likes a thing or turns away from it, your mind no longer has the possibility to know it…. For if this predisposition, or rather this passion precedes every judgment it enters within, [it] becomes a wall between the mind and the thing … obscuring the mind.” SCUPOL I, 9 1
2 A general question relevant to this: ‘How do I find what has most to do with me?’ (a) The significance of this question (b) The role of taste (c) Is taste an impediment in that search?
2 A general question: ‘How do I find what has most to do with me?’ (a) The significance of this question (b) The role of taste (c) Is taste an impediment in that search? (d) How the present culture leads you to suppose that ‘what has most to do with you’ has very little to do with art
Hypothesis Cultural amnesia regarding art
“Your life, no less than your body, may suffer disease.” D E M O C R I T U S , 5 TH - C BC
II The idea of the ‘right view of art’
‘How dare anyone tell me what I should listen to!’ 1 We are all free to enjoy whatever we like
‘How dare anyone tell me what I should listen to!’ 2 What are your criteria; what qualities make a thing fit to listen to or to watch?
II The idea of the ‘right view of art’ B Which position do you hold & why? Guidance from Scripture
In the realm of culture A RT, M U S I C , F I C T I O N , E N T E RTA I N M E N T 1 Are we all free to enjoy whatever we like? 2 If we are not free, what are our criteria; what qualities make a thing fit to listen to or to watch?
“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things” PHI LI PPI ANS 4 : 8 E SV λογίζεσθε
II The idea of the ‘right view of art’ C Application of these views: some contemporary art
In the realm of culture A RT, M U S I C , F I C T I O N , E N T E RTA I N M E N T 1 Are we all free to enjoy whatever we like? 2 If we are not free, what are our criteria; what qualities make a thing fit to listen to or to watch?
The Lights Going On and Off 2000 | Martin CREED
The Lights Going On and Off 2000 | Martin CREED
My Bed Tracey EMIN Installation in the Turner Prize Exhibition, Tate Britain, London, 2000
Three Ball Total- Equilibrium Tank: Two Dr. J Silver Series, Spalding NBA Tip-Off 1985 | Jeff KOONS Tank with basketballs suspended in water
Myra 1997 | Marcus HARVEY
Life magazine, 1966
Rama Lama Ding Dong 2006 | Dan COLEN
Untitled (Leonardo and His Five Grotesque Heads) 1983 Jean-Michel BASQUIAT oil on canvas
If You Can Dream It, You Must Do It 2003 Mark TITCHNER
Away from the Flock 1994 | Damien HIRST
Untitled 2006 | Shary BOYLE Untitled 2005 | Shary BOYLE
Ectopic Pregnancy 2005 | Wangechi MUTU
Mommy Loves Daddy 2006 | David Ben WHITE
Miss ko2 2011 | Takashi MURAKAMI
Sno-bo 1999 | John CURRIN
The Stockbroker 2002 | George CONDO
Skinny Jim 2009 | George CONDO
Country Nurse 2003 | Richard PRINCE
I’m Dead 2007 | David SHRIGLEY
Monkey Train (Birds) 2007 | Jeff KOONS
Untitled Maurizio CATTELAN 2009
1 This IS art; but you don’t like it 2 Liking or disliking is not the issue: this is NOT art 3 Liking or disliking is not the issue: this MAY BE art: but it is NOT art by a Christian standard 4 This IS art & you mostly like it
K I R G H I Z S T A N
TASTE is a matter of HABITUATION
This is good for him and bad for me.
A P R O P O S A L Good & bad in art is a matter of TASTE, which is simply a matter of HABITUATION
Three Ball Total- Equilibrium Tank: Two Dr. J Silver Series, Spalding NBA Tip-Off 1985 | Jeff KOONS Tank with basketballs suspended in water
Untitled # 175 1987 | Cindy SHERMAN
A P R O P O S A L Good & bad in art is a matter of TASTE , which is simply a matter of HABITUATION
Daddy, Daddy Maurizio CATTELAN | 2008
Two reasons why good & bad in art does not seem to be a matter of taste: 1 Likes & dislikes in art (but not in food ) can be a challenge to understanding 2 You have the desire to ‘correct’ the judgement of the person who likes what is bad, dislikes what is good, in art - since there seem to be important principles at issue
Or, to put it differently: There is no ‘moral’ good & bad in food, but only good/bad for me (good/bad relative to a habituation that I had but you didn’t - & don’t have to have) There seems to be ‘moral’ good & bad in art, as liking what is bad raises issues of what is good for human beings in general ( being habituated to liking ‘bad art’ may be habituation ‘against true life’ )
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