William wrote:
Michael makes the simple and common distinction between art that must serve a separate function and that which has no separate function.
I did not say art has no function. I said that utilitarian things are made *first* to have a function, and their looks are subordinate to that. Works of art are made *first* to have a certain appearance, and then perhaps to serve an explicit function, as a portrait, a religious icon, etc.
You also say, "The problem is we can't find the location of art." I believe that we have no trouble locating a given artifact or made thing if it's well within the borders of a category, say, in Kansas. But when the artifact is over near the edge, on the beach at low tide, on the border between art and nonart, then we have a difficult time, NOT locating the work, but locating the boundary.
Are you ever puzzled when you encounter some thing and wonder, "Is that a work of art?" I suspect it happens as infrequently as not being able to tell whether the voice on the telephone is a man's or woman's, or if the long-haired person sitting in the row in front of you is a man or woman. What are the cues and qualities of each encounter that guide your first snap conclusion? Analogous to seeing something "as art" or not. You make a provisional scheme for deciding on the nature of what you are perceiving. Things that are well within the boundaries typically don't cause problems, but things at the edge--the contralto voice that could be a tenor, the long hair and indistinct shoulders that could be a man, the picture that could be merely a picture. <g>
My criterion--is the representation contingent on external verification--is a binary thing. Either it is (the map must conform to what it purports to represent or it's functionally useless) or it's not (the map is a imaginary diagram of a yet-to-be-discovered land of praeternatural bounty). The saint's image on the wall can be painted in any way, as long as certain attributes are shown--and the same saint looks different from one church to another. The accuracy of the likeness is an elastic standard, modified by the artist's skill and preference for various pictorial effects. Not so the driver's license photo.
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