Friday, September 12, 2008

On the definition of art...

The tattoo on Steiner's back has been sold for almost $215,000 to a collector who has the right to remove it after he dies. Delvoye says bluntly that this is one yardstick that makes the tattoo an artwork, rather than just another tattoo.

"It's art because it got sold," Delvoye says.


To compare:

"To me," he said recently, in a rare interview, "once money changes hands for art, it becomes a fraudulent activity."

1 comment:

Jesse said...

that revs article is quite interesting. I've been watching the docs about Christo & Jeanne-Claude, the people who brought you the gates. That seems to be art without it being sold.

Then of course there's "the fountain". Don't think the sold thing can even possibly define art, I suppose you could argue it might define worthwhile art or art that is considered valuable... but art itself, what?