What is art?

Some thinkers have argued that the difference between fine art and applied art has more to do with value judgments made about the art than any clear definitional difference (Novitz, 1992). However, even fine art often has goals beyond just pure creativity and self-expression. The purpose of works of art may be to communicate ideas, such as in politically-, spiritually-, or philosophically-motivated art, to create a sense of beauty (see “aesthetics”), to explore the nature of perception, for pleasure, or to generate strong emotions. The purpose may also be seemingly nonexistent.

I was bored to tears with the wallpaper I had been using.  And after cruising Deviantart for what seemed like forever and not finding anything I was enjoying, I decided to take matters into my own hands.  I fired up Photoshop and produced this.  A Japanese art inspired piece.  Its really nothing too special, it was simple to make and only took me a few minutes, though, I think it looks pretty nice.  When it comes to wallpapers, in particular, I'm a fan of minimalism.  Which is also typical of a lot of Japanese style artwork.  You can download a full size 1600×1200 jpg from my Flickr if you are so inclined.  Enjoy.

On Friday we attended an opening for a good friend of ours, Debbie Quick. She has a show running at the AFA Gallery in downtown Scranton for the remainder of the month. Primarily an installation display with some really creepily interesting pieces. She does these ceramic sculptures with fabric and genius. In a small interview/article about her another friend of ours, Alicia Grega-Pikul, quotes Debbie describing her work:

Describing a work called "No Such Thing As Getting Fixed," the artist explained, "I was exploring social interactions and very specifically the anxiety that's born out of really awkward situations and social situations. With the two faces that are facing each other there is kind of this shame and guilt and blame that kind of transpires back and forth - also about this kind of interaction between a close-knit unit between two instead of a whole group."

It is definitely worth making the time to get down there to check it out. It is most certainly a good time. Jime has an opening this afternoon at the Dietrich theater in Tunkhannock. It is being billed as the "Keystone Senior Exhibition Encore". There are six artists participating and you can read more about them here. The opening will be from 3 to 5 pm this afternoon. There is also a Juried exhibition going on this month at the EMCA and the Wyoming County Courthouse. The opening for that show was also this past Friday night. Jime didn't win but there was some stiff competition. There is a lot of really great work on display at both locations. Another show that you should hit if you have the opportunity.