The right to attribution and integrity. As the boundaries of what is considered “Art” have been progressively pushed to their limits, it has become more and more difficult for the law to draw the line on what is an artistic work.
There are three key issues which this essay identifies and seeks to resolve. Firstly, that the categories of artistic works are vaguely defined and do not adequately reflect contemporary artistic practice. Secondly, that the test for what qualifies as an artistic work should be linked to artistic purpose. Finally, that given the developments of Art and the Art market, copyright no longer gives artists sufficient protection of their works and other rights need to be strengthened to compensate.
1. The Current Law on
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The need for new categories At present, images created digitally can be protected as artistic works but only if conceptually shoe‐ horned into the categories of “painting” or “drawing”. I have considered carefully the difficulties of protecting installation Art within the current copyright framework. My definition of installation deliberately creates a high threshold for subsistence by designating that an installation must be site‐specific work. This is necessary as installation Art relies heavily on conceptual ideas and if the definition were drawn too broadly there would be a risk of protecting the idea rather than the …show more content…
The Importance of Artistic Purpose As stated above, it is not always easy to establish whether a work falls within one of the categories of artistic works. This problem cannot be solved by more detailed definitions of artistic works without creating the opposing problem that the categories are too narrow. Sculpture, as a category of artistic works, has proved particularly difficult and has provided a wealth of case law rightly notes that in many cases it is only the artistic purpose of the artist which makes an otherwise banal object an “artistic work”. I believe that this factor for determining whether or not a work is an artistic work is so crucial that it should be included in a statutory description of artistic works. It avoids judges becoming the arbiter of “what is Art” and instead places the onus on the intentions of the artist. Furthermore it guards against the risk that, unless the law is better married to contemporary artistic practice, the legal definition of artistic works will develop independently and become divorced from their original
What does the work consist of? Who authored it, and how? What is it based on, and how does it relate? What is it, and what will become of it? The answers to these questions, collectively, form an important response to a bigger question: What is art? What does it mean to describe a piece as “a work of art”?
In Gaut’s essay, “The Ethical Criticism of Art”, he addresses the relevance of an art piece’s ethical value when making an aesthetic evaluation. His key argument revolves around the attitudes that works of art manifest such that he presents the following summary “If a work manifests ethically reprehensible attitudes, it is to that extent aesthetically defective, and if a work manifests ethically commendable attitudes, it is to that extent aesthetically meritorious”. In direct contrast with formalists, who divine a work’s merit through an assessment of its style and compositional aspects, Gaut states that any art piece’s value requires a pro tanto judgement. This pro tanto position allows for pieces considered stylistic masterpieces, to be
Prior to the enactment of the Statute of Anne in 1710, the idea of copyright law, remained in the private law context, was in hands of profit-making stationers' company who only served to uphold their own interests in printing the materials. The Statute of Anne deeply affected the American law of copyright (Patterson, 1965) marking the beginning of copyright in a public context. Although the Statute itself had handful of loopholes like it only governed the printing of books and did not stipulate any means to identify the author, it was still often referred as the most authoritative legislation document because of its groundbreaking, historical impact on its protection to the natural and property rights of authors. In my essay, the Copyright Ordinance in Hong Kong will be illustrated to show that it succeeded the spirit of Statute of Anne, favoring the vigorous and prospering development creative work in our city. I would also suggest some ways to amend the Law in the modern circumstances where Web 2.0 Communication Tools reinvented the creative industry significantly.
artistic merit of the work: not that “it is a work of art,” but how good a work of art it is, and
Before you begin reading this paper, look through the appendix. Are you shocked? Disgusted? Intrigued? Viewers of such controversial artwork often experience a wide spectrum of reactions ranging from the petrified to the pleased. Questions may arise within the viewer regarding the artistic merit and legitimacy of this unorthodox artwork. However, art's primary purpose, according to Maya Angelou, “is to serve humanity. Art that does not increase our understanding of this particular journey or our ability to withstand this particular journey, which is life, is an exercise in futile indulgence” (Buchwalter 27). To expand on Angelou's analogy, because everyone experiences a different life journey, art is different to everyone. In other words, art is subjective to the viewer. The viewer creates his own definition of what is art and what is not art. Some may recognize the artistic value of a piece of artwork, while others may find it obscene. Some may praise the artwork, while others will protest it. Censorship is derived from these differing perspectives on artwork. Through censorship, communities seek to establish boundaries and criteria that limit an artist's ability to produce “proper” artwork. However, some artists choose to ignore these boundaries in order to expand the scope of art and, in their view, better serve humanity.
Most of the time when we think about a piece of art, we believe a single person such as an artist, constructed it. After all, the artist is the person who painted, wrote, sang, shot, or organized the piece of art, don’t they deserve all the credit? In this essay, I argue that art is better and less problematic when the process of making it involves the opinions of many types of people. I am able to do so by analyzing Audre Lorde’s article, The Master's Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master's House, and applying her concepts to my own art pieces.
My goal for this paper is to give a practical critique and defense of what I have learned in my time as a Studio Art Major. During my time here I have learned that Pensacola Christian college’s definition of art “art is the organized visual expression of ideas or feelings” and the four parts of Biblosophy: cannon, communication, client, and creativity. Along with Biblosophy I have studied Dr. Frances Schaeffer 's criteria for art, seeing how the technical, and the major and minor messages in artwork. All of these principles are great but they do need to be refined.
Just as other works that reflect art, pieces in the category of fine arts serve the important message of passing certain messages or portraying a special feeling towards a particular person, function or activity. At times due to the nature of a particular work, it can become so valuable that its viewers cannot place a price on it. It is not the nature or texture of an art that qualifies it, but the appreciation by those who look at it (Lewis & Lewis, 2008).
AA theory by Clive Bell suggests the pinpoints the exact characteristic which makes a work true art. According to Bell, an artwork must produce “aesthetic emotion” (365). This aesthetic emotion is drawn from the form and formality of an artwork rather than whether or not it is aesthetically pleasing or how well it imitates what it is trying to depict. The relation of objects to each other, the colors used, and the qualities of the lines are seemingly more important than what emotion or idea the artwork is trying to provoke. Regardless of whether or not the artwork is a true imitation of certain emotions, ideals, or images, it cannot be true art unless it conjures this aesthetic emotion related to formality (367).
For over two thousand years, various philosophers have questioned the influence of art in our society. They have used abstract reasoning, human emotions, and logic to go beyond this world in the search for answers about arts' existence. For philosophers, art was not viewed for its own beauty, but rather for the question of how art and artists can help make our society more stable for the next generation. Plato, a Greek philosopher who lived during 420-348 B.C. in Athens, and Aristotle, Plato’s student who argued against his beliefs, have no exceptions to the steps they had to take in order to understand the purpose of art and artists. Though these two philosophers made marvelous discoveries about the existence of art, artists, and aesthetic experience, Plato has made his works more controversial than Aristotle.
Based on this creator-centric definition, one may claim that art is purely a form of individual expression, and therefore creation of art should not be hindered by ethical consideration. Tattoos as pieces of artwork offer a great example of this issue. However, one may take it from the viewer’s perspective and claim that because art heavily involves emotion and the response of a community after viewing it, the message behind what is being presented is what should actually be judged. To what extent do ethical judgements limit the way the arts are created?... ...
Today most art education programs are made up of four components. One of these components is art aesthetics. Aesthetics is the study of the nature of a piece of artwork. It analyzes the work by asking specific questions regarding the artist and the piece. The viewer becomes the judge in a sense. It tries to discover what the artwork might be representing. They could also ask what type of emotion the artist was trying to convey in their work. The viewer also takes part in analyzing the physical aspects and characteristics of the work. It focuses on the use of color, sequence and synchrony of an artwork. It notes the artist’s craftsmanship, artistic ability and proficiency in technique (Hoffman 1999).
Relationship Between Art And Society: Mimesis. The relationship between art and society: Mimesis as discussed in the works of Aristotle, Plato, Horace and Longinus. The relationship between art and society in the works of Plato is based upon his idea of the world of eternal Forms. He believed that there is a world of eternal, absolute and immutable Forms (the world of the Ideal) and thought that this is proven by when man is faced with the appearance of anything in the material world, his mind is moved to a remembrance of the Idea or an absolute and immutable version of the thing he sees.
An artist who can take an idea and improve on it is the one coined by this saying as a “great artist”. This artist do not take the idea at face value, he/she looks at it from a fresh perspective and gives the idea their own innovative twist, expanding the potential of the idea even further. Copyright laws can hinder this process significantly by limiting access and usage of the old ideas. The excess fees or legal procedures required to gain access to previous works can be slowed down, deterring some from creation and innovation. Freedom should be an essential part of the creativity process, and the existence of these laws itself could just be the limiting factor for more successful innovations to be made. Therefore, the usage of copyright laws should be reviewed frequently as it should ensure the dissemination of fresh ideas while protecting the
Art is everywhere whether one likes it or not, and can be appreciated in the smallest of ways. It’s absolutely necessary for the growth of a society and its people. It’s mainly used for businesses today to either raise people’s opinions of their company or sell a product. For example if you go to the marketplace and you pick up a gallon of milk the first thing you may see on that gallon is a picture of a cow or the same milk being poured into a glass in a way that captures the eye and makes you think “wow that looks great!” This is the most common use for visual art today and often makes people “miss the point” of what it truly means (Why Art Matters, 1). Advertisement is one of the biggest fields in then visual arts and shapes the way we see a product as well as the choices we make on such judgment. This is where the illusion comes in making the visual arts, a potentially harmful thing. The illusion of it comes from what’s true and what’s made up or “altered truth”. A company could make their product seem way better than it really is essentially tricking people into buying it. One example is when you go to a fast food restaurant and you see signs of perfect looking sandwiches when in reality they don’t look like that. Most people don’t see any illusion but when they do it’s hard for them to see the other side of things, the ones that aren’t “stretching the truth”. People today tend to see that kind of advertisement as normal. In fact, it kind of helps with things like morale by making things seem much more worth it and just all around nicer. So there for the arts are the very “soul” of a successful business.