Art

[DannyT]

In my 2D design class I was wondering what makes art - art. Sounds corny I know, but I'm really asking. . .

Why do we see magic as an art form? Why are we trying to get more people to believe what we do is really art?

We call magic art all the time, but has anyone called you out on it?
How would you defend it to people who say otherwise?

How do we compare magic effects to well known paintings like the Mona Lisa, Starry Night, or the Sistine Chapel? (I may be comparing apples to oranges, my fault)

How do you define art?

 

[ajp500]

All I can say is THANK YOU.

Everyone keeps saying it to sound like professional and smart.

I think creating magic is a art because you are making somthing and taking thought and detial to make it seem impossable to most people. In other words, thinking outside the box.

 

[RDChopper]

Good thread

I ( along some other members) brought that to the table over here:

http://forums.theory11.com/showthread.php?t=21951

I asked one of my professors about it, using Jeff Mcbride act as an example and he said:

the theatrics of the act is what we could consider "Art" but for the main thing, is just performance, we can't call it "art

That same day (on another class) the proffesor asked " then what is art?"

Then a fellow classmate cleverly responded:

It would be innapropiate to try to give a definition to the word "art" right now, given our experiences and knowledge, it would be wiser to learn all what we can so that later down the road we can attempt to give it a definition

As I said in that thread, the word "art" is being thrown away like candy, "art this!" "art that!" and the funny thing is that neither of us really knows what art means.



EDIT::// BTW, I think that the definition of "Art" definetly goes a lot more and more in-depth than just a wikipedia reference.

Just for the record.

 

[DannyT]

As I said in that thread, the word "art" is being thrown away like candy, "art this!" "art that!" and the funny thing is that neither of us really knows what art means.

I didn't read through that thread yet, but this line made me remember a video from the David Blaine stunt : Dive of Death.
http://media.theory11.com/1487-Dive-of-Death---Night-Two---JB-Inversion

The one part at 1:40 I want you to watch is when Dan White askes Dan (a member) - not me, that what he thinks of the stunt.
He calls it a real piece of art.
o-0?
Hanging upside down is art?
That just really bugged me when I saw it and shows that we do really throw that word around like it's nothing.

 

[RDChopper]

I didn't read through that thread yet, but this line made me remember a video from the David Blaine stunt : Dive of Death.
http://media.theory11.com/1487-Dive-of-Death---Night-Two---JB-Inversion

The one part at 1:40 I want you to watch is when Dan White askes Dan (a member) - not me, that what he thinks of the stunt.
He calls it a real piece of art.
o-0?
Hanging upside down is art?
That just really bugged me when I saw it and shows that we do really throw that word around like it's nothing.

Yep. Weird...

Anyway, althought He might have said that just to sound cool and to make it like he had a very indepth view of the whole stunt, I think he actually (uncounsiously) made a point.

Okay, lets be sicnere, the whole stunt was ridiculous but either way take a look at this:

I do think that that image there is a really artistic way of representing David Blaine's stunt, It could mean a lot of things,( I leave that to you guys) But I really liked that image, and it gives a whole other viewpoint of the stunt itself, almost like a statue representing something, a feeling or whatever....

But Yeah. definetly speaking of the stunt, it wasn't art.

And good find btw, it does reafirm the theory behind it.

 

[James Smith]

This is sort of a random jotting-down thoughts post.

These are the first things I think of (in order) when I hear the word art:

1. Abstract Painting
2. the Mona Lisa
3. Statues
4. Music
5. Pink Floyd

 

[RDChopper]

Mega Bump.

 

[DannyT]

Alright, so about 3 members posted in this thread, upon the 100's of youtube videos I see stating how magic is an art at the beginning of each video.
Posers
How is it that a thread on The Wire gets more replies than this thread when it's been posted 1,000 times on this forum before.
Guys, this is pathetic.

 

[chriswiehl]

danny, i see how magic can be considered an art, which it may be. Magic is like Music. Now with music, not just anyone can pick up an instrument and play a beautiful peice. it takes years of practice and dedication to reach that level.
But there are thoes people who will just pick up a guitar, learn a few chords (and in the wrong way) and try to go out and start a band and get famous.
in this way, magic is an art. i can replace anything in the music anology into the magic world.
to be a great magician, we need dedictation, precision and practice. not just anyone can take a deck and do amazing things with it. but there are a lot of people who want to pick up a deck and try some magic, then try to put out trick of there own (that suck) and that not even they have perfected.

how would we advance this art? well lets look at it from painting or better yet music (which i know more about)
we need to be thoes artists who take a normal instrument, like a flute or oboe (in my case) and practice and work on other peices of music, and perfect them then go on to perfecting as much and learn as much as we can. we need to dedicate ourselves to that art. then and only then can we go out and put everything we learned together, using little bits and peices from other artists and make something incredible and new! if we use enough peices and ideas we can take a bunch of normal songs and turn them into something new and amazing.
This is how art is.

 

[RDChopper]

danny, i see how magic can be considered an art, which it may be. Magic is like Music. Now with music, not just anyone can pick up an instrument and play a beautiful peice. it takes years of practice and dedication to reach that level.
But there are thoes people who will just pick up a guitar, learn a few chords (and in the wrong way) and try to go out and start a band and get famous.
in this way, magic is an art. i can replace anything in the music anology into the magic world.
to be a great magician, we need dedictation, precision and practice. not just anyone can take a deck and do amazing things with it. but there are a lot of people who want to pick up a deck and try some magic, then try to put out trick of there own (that suck) and that not even they have perfected.

The easiest way to own the music analogy is this:

Can you express feelings, emotions or a message through flourishes alone?

I don't think so.

Magic wise, As I said, the theatrics part of the routine that we are performing, that is art. but as for the trick itself. Nope.

As I said before in the thread, considering magic art is like considering doing tricks with a YoYo Art. Both take precision, practice and dedication.

For a further explanation of this please take a look at the thread that I made referance a littl while ago in this thread.

 

[Mr.MadMan]

RDC and DannyT i see this thing every day and im not pleased with it.

Magic in my eyes is not art.
Its like music actually, you can´t really say that music is art. Its something completely different.

Im not sure yet what and how to explain it. You can think of it as art but i think that it is something else. Its something that hasnt been thought of yet, the next stage of conditional art. The biig meaning behind a brushstroke. It is still too early to call it something since magic still hasnt gotten it together.

Its hard to get it through but in my mind magic has a big way to go before it has one word to get it together. Its in its early stages of development, although it has been around 2500 years.

I have to get back to this. I really havent got the point myself yet.
Ignore this for now, im just trying to keep it up!



Mikk.

 

[RDChopper]

Why the fu** insn't this on top? sweet lord have mercy.

 

[industrialchild]

I thought I would put in my two cents here.

Magic, I would most definitely consider an art-form. I direct the reader of this post to look at Eugene Burger's Shakespearean Thread (his handling of Gypsy Thread), or The Inquisition (his handling of Card Warp).

He is just one example of how a magician can take something simple and turn it into something meaningful and beautiful, like any great artist.

I also believe that when magic is done well, regardless of who is performing it can be artful. If nothing else, if the magician tells the spectator, "Hey, i am going to show you something that seems impossible, but it's not; it's only magic." Then why can't that also be considered art. The performer made a definitive statement, expressed through a trick that statement, and left the observer with something more than a mere novelty.

Now and days, the term art gets thrown around and people forget that art by definition is merely a form of expression.

 

[visualartist]

Why the fu** insn't this on top? sweet lord have mercy.

Because,to me, this has been discussed to death and very few people actually know how to define art.

 

[RDChopper]

Because,to me, this has been discussed to death and very few people actually know how to define art.

Pretty much.