Is It Art?

There's been a lot of local buzz recently concerning the display of "Unconditional Surrender" (nicknamed The Kiss) in Sarasota's bayfront. Though it is popular with the public, the Sarasota art committee recently decided it isn't art and they want it gone. The committee was quoted in the Sarasota Herald:

"Members of the public art committee say the "Unconditional Surrender" sculpture is "ornamental and decorative," which disqualifies it from being in the city's collection of public art."
You can read the entire article here.


When it was first displayed on the bayfront several years ago, Isabella and I had our picture taken in front of it (and no, we weren't kissing-LOL) . I can't find that pic- somewhere buried in a folder on my computer, but here is a photo that was in the newspaper with the article.

Is it art? It was sculpted from a photograph, so does that mean it isn't art? If that were true, portrait paintings wouldn't be considered art, or still life painting and sketches. So I'm not sure I buy the argument it isn't art because it was sculpted from a photo. It certainly isn't one of a kind because there are several others on display in other areas of the country. But is it art? I've seen this topic discussed so many times in art and doll makers forums, and there seems to be a variety of opinions. I do have to wonder about the wisdom of something this size on permanent display in a hurricane prone area.


In my own little world, what I produce with my own hands (or camera) and my own creative vision is art, and what I make using things created by others is crafting. The Anna Maria canvases I consider art because everything, other than the shells, I created myself. And Mike's blues canvas? To me, it's crafting. All of the images I am using were created by someone else- the photos were taken from old album covers and the sheet music came from a book of music I bought. I'm taking images that already existed and embellishing them, then arranging them together on a canvas. I would never consider selling this canvas because of copy write issues.

Here are some photos of materials I've altered for Mike's blues canvas. All these strips of music that I've painted and splattered will be the background for the photos of the blues artists.

But here is some original one of kind art that appears weekly on my patio glass sliding door - nose art...

I used to clean it several times a day but finally gave up and only clean it once a week now. I have no idea why dogs have to put their noses directly on the glass. I could see them doing it once or twice thinking perhaps they could get through the glass. But don't you think they would figure out there was no way to go through? Having one tall dog and a short one, a large area of the glass gets "painted", with many interesting designs. Too bad paint doesn't come out their noses- I could get them to do some abstract paintings to sell on EBay. Remember a while back the elephant that painted canvases? Those sold for a pretty penny. Now if I could just think of a way to make this weekly nose art into a money maker....

Peace-

Linda