Full Description
This collection of essays by the Belgian philosopher and theorist Bart Verschaffel, address issues concerning the meaning and relevance of art today.Written over the course of his career, they cover a rich and inventive range of topics, from laughter to the artwork as gift, to splendor and modern beauty. This is the first synoptic collection of Verschaffel's work with many of the essays translated into English for the first time.
Contents
Preface
Introduction: Art as a Form of Understanding
First Ideas on Art, Being Moved and Criticism
Critical?Art
What Art Can Do (Malpertuis by Jean Ray)
On the Pleasure of Finding What Is Hidden (With Hidden Noise by Marcel Duchamp)
Memoria: Memory Work and the 'Conversation of Mankind'
Aspects of Artistry
On Laughter, Opinions and Artistic Freedom
Notes on the Work of Art as a Gift
Being an Artist Is an Art in Itself: On the 'First Work' and the Notion of 'Oeuvre'
Double-speak; Elementary Aesthetics
On Splendour and Modern Beauty
Fatal Truths: Notes on the Beauty Experience
On the Aesthetic Gaze, Beauty and the Two Sources of Ugliness
