Category: Human Behavior and Cognitive Science

HERE IS THE PROBLEM FOR THE ARTIST

The artist cannot necessarily control his intuitions – the elephant is stronger than the rider, and the elephant gets stronger the lower the individual’s agency (class). But he produces a good in a market, like any other, he can be liable for. Criticism (or shaming, or even ridicule at times, and perhaps prosecution) are what all producers of goods risk.

HERE. I’LL MAKE IT WORSE

Art can EASILY be evaluated by triangulation (ordinal), as can all things not reducible to linear (cardinal) measures. Anything humans value can be evaluated by triangulation.

Most of the time, in art, we are measuring ignorance, as in any other field.

Likewise, people can be taught the basics of art criticism just as they can be taught the basics of fashion criticism, or of literary criticism, or of movie criticism …like any other system of weights and measures. The fact that they don’t know the method doesn’t mean it’s hard.

What we find if we give people a basic education in art criticism (which I can probably do in the space of three hours or so)we find that they are quite good at identifying quality, and need only the language of demarcating decoration and context. What fits where, like ‘manners’.

Your bath, bedroom, hallway, living room, office spaces, public buildings, museums, and monuments require different ‘manners’ of behavior, dress … and art. For the same reasons. And that’s what people do everywhere.

( The reason to do otherwise is to take attention by ‘theft’ from those environments. )