Sometime ago I made a flower arrangement, including two leaves and an orchid. The orchid faded and I had to remove it, but the two leaves remained. I do not like to throw away plants, so after I used a stalk for a still life arrangement for my students, I added it to the now flowerless, leaves-only arrangement. Here is what it turned out like:
I looked at it again and thought: oh, it seems that not all leaves are created equal. Here we have three distinct Characters. They all live in the same water and are supported by the same pebbles. They are contained by the same vase. Yet they are so different in their Attitude – don’t you think? These three leaves are in a Relationship. Of course, the relationship exists only in the mind of the viewer – it is a human thing. Leaves do relate to each other in their natural habitat but this is only limited to their the struggle for light – and occurs regardless of whether or not there is a human mind to comprehend that.
Before writing this post, I put the photo on my Facebook page and titled it “The Pessimist, The Optimist and the Poet”. The comments it received were: a nice metaphor, witty, intelligent, beautiful
So, reader, look at the photo and tell me: is this art?
1- It is made of ‘found objects’
2 – It is a result of Artist’s intervention
3 – It is metaphoric – it is not what you see (three leaves in a vase) but something else that has to do with human character
4 – It is aesthetically pleasing (which, sadly, is not a part of the definition of art these days)
5 – The whole thing happens in your mind. Outside of it, they are only 3 leaves in a vase with some pebbles.
So – art or not-art?
BORYANA KORCHEVA 