Art versus Nonart Art out of Mind [Hardcover]

Tsion Avital poses the question: 'Is modern art art at all?'In Art versus Non-Art, Tsion Avital poses the question: Is modern art art at all? He argues that the nonrepresentational art produced in the twentieth century was not art, but rather the debris of the visual tradition it replaced. Modern art has thrived on the total confusion between art and pseudo-art and the inability of many to distinguish between them. As Avital demonstrates, modern art has served as a critical intermediate stage between art of the past and the future.In Art versus Non-Art, Tsion Avital poses the question: Is modern art art at all? He argues that the nonrepresentational art produced in the twentieth century was not art, but rather the debris of the visual tradition it replaced. Modern art has thrived on the total confusion between art and pseudo-art and the inability of many to distinguish between them. As Avital demonstrates, modern art has served as a critical intermediate stage between art of the past and the future.Tsion Avital poses the question: Is modern art--art at all? He argues that the nonrepresentational art produced in the twentieth century was not actually art, but rather the debris of the visual tradition it replaced. Modern art has thrived on the state of total confusion existing between art and pseudo-art and the inability of many to distinguish between them. As Avital demonstrates, modern art has served as a critical intermediate stage between art of the past and the future.Preface; Introduction: the twentieth century: the era of nonart; Part I. Disillusionment: 1. Art in a paradigmatic crisis; 2. Modern art and the logic of pretense; 3. Is there abstraction in abstract art?; 4. Aesthetics in the service of the new barbarism; Part II. Mind and Art: 5. Mindprints: the structural shadows of mind-reality?; 6. The breakdown of hierarchy in twentieth-century art and its implications for present and future art; 7. Is figurative representation arbitrary? A reexaminl#t