...In the Realms of Art: A Conceptual Inquiry of the Genesis of the Work of Art
Dissertation, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (
2000)
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Abstract
The thesis is concerned with the creation and origin of the work of art. It attempts to explain the unique metaphysical status of artworks as cultural products. The genesis of the work of art, which I understand to be collaborative and deeply historical in nature, is analyzed using a framework that resorts to both philosophical traditions, analytic and continental, as well as to art history and sociology. I argue that the work of art is actualized when the artistic object is endowed with an interpretation. Additionally, I maintain that the work of art as creative object is divested of the necessity of originality. I also revise traditional accounts of the artist and the role of the public. To this effect I undertake an extensive criticism of the aesthetics of genius, which favors a view of the artist as hegemonic and central. The artist's reduced protagonism is absorbed by an engaged public, which I call attendant, and whose primary tool is interpretation. In the end, I posit that works of art arise as the result of the joint activity of artist and public. ;Complementing the text are a number of illustrations and concrete examples that range from straightforward images of paintings and sculptures, to short stories, poems, citations from plays, or even comic strips which act as either an additional butress or as counterpoint to the arguments I present or criticize. Lastly there are some "interpretive devices" planted through the text that are meant to exemplify and draw from the reader the kinds of critical responses I theorize about