Thursday, August 25, 2011

What is art?


There's a fascinating movie I recommend you see. It's called 'My Kid Could Paint That.' What's fascinating about it isn't the story so much, about a three-year-old artist to whom people pay thousands for her work. It's about the nature of art, what people see in it, why it matters to them, what it's worth, and whether it is in fact art.

Tonight I finally saw this, a 30-foot high statue of Marilyn Monroe, on Michigan Avenue. I find it just awful. But as you can see from the picture, people are interacting with it, leaning against it, taking pictures up her blown-up skirt. And that doesn't even count the dozen or so tourists next to me taking pictures.

If art causes a reaction, if it invites involvement, then Marilyn is art.

5 comments:

Will Robinson said...

Please help me decipher your third sentence.

G.D. said...

I think you're smart enough to figure it out.

Patrick scullin said...

Curious that an iconic scene from a movie that takes place in New York is recreated in Chicago.

What's up with that?

Will Robinson said...

I'm still perplexed: "What's fascinating about it isn't the story so much, about a three-year-old artist people to whom people pay thousands for her work". Aren't you a writer by trade?

G.D. said...

Will,

On a good day.

PS Get a life.