Trouble in Danto’s Artworld :: Danto Art Essays

Trouble in Dantos subterfugeworld Dantos theory of artistic identification accepts a moot class of artwork as art art made entirely of space. Consider the avant-garde artist who claims an unoccupied space in the Museum of Modern Art and calls it Missing Van Gogh it can be shown by Dantos is of artistic identification that her work is art. It not all fulfills Dantos requirements, but also, it distinguishes itself as revolutionary by expanding the style hyaloplasm, and as clever, by belonging to the once-problematic category of artwork called indiscernibles. However, it can be shown that Missing Van Goghs lose of spatial and temporal boundaries adds infinite predicates to the style matrix and thus reveals a flaw in Dantos theory. Dantos theory of artistic identification requires only that the sentence x is P, where x is a given work and P a predicate functioning as an interpretation of that work, apply to a constituent of what he calls the Artworld. He cal ls the word is between x and the P in the sentence the is of artistic interpretation, and any work indicated by this is is art. For instance, we may say the Eroica melody is profound. By Dantos definition, the fact that this artistic interpretation of the work is possible is sufficient to show that it is a work of art. Danto also posits a style matrix consisting of all the variant combinations of art-relevant predicates in todays Artworld. This matrix serves as a context in which all artworks can be discussed, and is open to the summing up of predicates as artists make innovative breakthroughs. The revolutionary beauty of Dantos theory lies in its openness and simplicity it is able to embrace new artistic developments because it refuses to lay specific properties as indicative of artwork status. It is more accepting than theories which name properties, such as the family resemblance theory, which rejects the first of every new class of artwork, or even Gauts cluster t heory, which demands some consistency.1 Yet, this radical openness of Dantos theory demands scrutiny if there is an artwork which Dantos theory accepts on floor of its openness, but which it ought not to, then Dantos theory is flawed.