HERESY! (Art & Porn)

[lacktheknack]

Firstly, the definitions of both are so vague as to be impossible for them not to overlap.

I have a hardline distinction for porn: Can I look at it with my mother?

Not so much for art, though.

OT: Merph.

Just because it's art doesn't mean I have to treat it differently than I did before.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Firstly, the definitions of both are so vague as to be impossible for them not to overlap.

I have a hardline distinction for porn: Can I look at it with my mother?

Not so much for art, though.

...

Actually, not that bad a definition. There's problems with it, but I don't remember a better one.

 

[lacktheknack]

Firstly, the definitions of both are so vague as to be impossible for them not to overlap.

I have a hardline distinction for porn: Can I look at it with my mother?

Not so much for art, though.

...

Actually, not that bad a definition. There's problems with it, but I don't remember a better one.

I don't go too close to the line between the two anyways, so I don't have to worry about exceptions to my rule.

 

[SonOfVoorhees]

Porn is people paid to fuck. Not art. Though im sure some would see it as art. All though there is a small line between art and pretentiousness. But then its all personal taste.

 

[xPixelatedx]

Do you agree with me?

As far as porn goes, I've actually seen some pretty interesting things online, things that made me question the limits of human imagination. When people put a pen to paper (or tablet these days) it seems they are no longer bound by what two human bodies are capable of anymore. So yes, I've seen porn that is most certainly art... and art that is most certainly porn. My friend always playfully told me Deviantart is full of a bunch of vagina photos, and that's considered "art". I thought he was joking... Nope. The worst part is the latter really is considered art, especially since it still qualifies as 'tasteful nude'. There is no imagination or creativity in it, however, so I don't see it as art at all.

I would even defend the horrendous style of Dragons Crown as art as well. It's so exaggerated and weird, it takes creativity to make people look that deformed. What people have forgotten is 'art' isn't always pleasant to look at, and it's often controversial. If anything, making a controversy around it breaths more life into it.

Dragon's Crown is (technically) a better argument that games have successfully been recognized as art then say, The Last of us. At least, recognized in the traditional seance. What's happened with Dragon's Crown has actually happened several times before in the world of art, and sparked similar if not identical controversies.

 

[SonOfVoorhees]

Porn is people paid to fuck. Not art.

It can actually much more than that, because porn has to be appealing to an audience. There is a lot of show(wo)manship involved, along with posing and editing. The director and performers make choices about how each scene will play out, and through those decisions comes the opportunity for art. Sure, a lot of porn (especially porn made for men) isn't especially artistic because making choices about setting an atmosphere gets in the way of the "zoom in on genitals" shots, but not all porn is made in the laziest way possible.

snip

I'm very familiar with the Miller test, and once again, that is for obscenity, not porn.

And really, I have no objection to the community standards rule, if only because there has historically been very, very little that runs afoul of it. In one case where the rule was used to try and close a porn shop, the owner was successfully able to argue that due to the fact that local members of the community shopped in his store, his store did not violate community standards.

The only objection I have to the Miller test is that it defines all obscenity as material of a sexual nature. I don't believe that to be the case. For example, if I made a video of myself stomping baby birds to death, that should probably be evaluated as obscene material. Not that I want more material declared obscene, just that sex isn't the only way to be obscene.

Doesnt make it art. Just means your making something that sells. I can make a cake thats extra tasty due to how i cook it, doesnt make it art, just makes a tasty cake people will buy.

 

[Hagi]

I'd go so far as to say all porn is art.

I'm not saying it's good art. But still art, like a child's drawing or the latest Hollywood blockbuster.

It's something man-made with the specific intention to evoke feeling and emotion, lust in this case.

It's not very deep, very complicated or very original. But still art, just not very good art in almost all cases.

 

[Do4600]

There's always going to be an argument between two types of people.

One type of person believes that art is inclusive, that anything done by humanity which is done for the sole intent of expressing and communicating or understanding is art.(Conceptual art is art but often bad art)

Another type of person believes that art is exclusive, that it is strictly a craft done with the intent of creating a proficient object that expresses a concrete meaning.(Conceptual art is not art and should not be on display)

 

[Alssadar]

Heresy is not art: It is only the prelude to execution.

Sure, I'll have my say that pornography is a form of art: it allows the mind to think and experiences and such. It can cause emotions to arouse arise and was produced through human design. Some may get more out of it than others.
But pornography is based off of visual attraction: when one seeks to fap, they chose what they think is attractive, similar to different tastes in the visual styles of art. However, as far as I've seen, that's about as deep it can get as an artform, unless your kink is some deeper contextual meaning of emotions or something absolutely disgusting. So in conclusion...yeah, I guess?

 

[General Vagueness]

Porn is people paid to fuck.

There are a lot of other kinds, it doesn't have to be that.

 

[-Dragmire-]

Humans are rather complex creatures when it comes to our ability to interpret different meanings and values when looking at the same things. It becomes even more interesting when we aren't even focusing on a physical object, but things like the morals and ideas we believe are represented by the object, especially if it were something that was created by a person as opposed a work of nature.

With all that BS out of the way, what is art and what isn't art is defined by the observer. A person may think a particular hardcore pelvis patty cake vid is art, and they'd be right. Another may see the same thing, and they may even enjoy it too, but doesn't consider it art, and they'd be right too. I don't believe a person can make a definition for art that fits to every possible perspective, it's not a math question with a right answer. It's one of those strange things we made up that invites a multitude of ideas and perspectives to congregate around a central point and has inspired us to take many of those ideas and bring them into reality.


Ok, the more I seem to write the less coherent I am becoming.


... Also, I completely forgot why I even started typing this... I need sleep. Off to the art-land of unwaking I go!

 

[Playful Pony]

And this is my heretical contention: Art and pornography are not mutually exclusive. That is to say that: Pornography can be considered a form of art.

Well:

por·nog·ra·phy

noun
obscene writings, drawings, photographs, or the like, especially those having little or no artistic merit.

Source [http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/pornography]

So, per that definition, no actually. Or at least not particularily so... Can sex and sexuality be art? Sure, it already is in a very major way. The same is true for what is considered sexual deviance, there are actually a few very famous poems and writing of the old masters concerning what we today would call "furry" (I'm guilty of drawing quite a lot of "furry-art" myself..).

Although I'm no fan of porn myself, I am not against it. I don't think the "it's art" defense is viable in this case though.

 

[Reeve]

Citing what a dictionary says is merely an appeal to authority. Dictionary.com is wrong and is based on old, out-dated notions. Artistic merit is subjective to begin with, anyway.