The Emperor's New Clothes?

[lillie]

I love Art, and yet despise anything that wins the Turner Prize. Am I an ignorant philistine or is the Turner Prize a case of The Emperor's New Clothes?

[Waterwolf]

I think it depends what kind of art you like. I'd say that most people (myself included) prefer their art to be in the thing itself; but in the Turner Prize, the art seems to be in the idea behind the thing.

[incitatus]

Sometimes I think thr Turner prize winning pieces are inspired (Rachel Whiteread e.g.) sometimes I just think Huh? Tastes vary so much. I mean personally I would burn every pre-raphaelite painting on earth, particularly the death of ophelia.

[tonybs]

Since Foucault and Barthes people have understood that all art - literature and opera as much as visual art - is about the connection made between the work and its audience. If Turner Prize stuff makes you think - and not just think 'that's pretty' - then it's good art. Whether you 'like' it or not.

[m_harmless]

In that case nothing is really art or artless, only thinking makes it so.