Is it art?

A few months ago I finished 'The Art Question' by Nigel Warburton. It was an interesting read but didn't get me much further than, 'It's art if the artist says it is.' Still, the journey was good and 'What is art?' is probably the most difficult question I have ever tried to ponder.

I re-pondered this morning as I listened to Radiohead's Kid A whilst making the coffee to take back to bed. Most critics felt it was a poor, over-experimental album, made with two imaginary fingers to their fans who would buy it anyway. But I loved it. Now does it make any difference what their intention was? If I do discover one day that they were indeed taking the piss will I stop liking it?

I didn't stop liking Dark Side of the Moon when Roger Waters confessed his lyrics were '...a bit lower sixth'. (Although Dub Side of the Moon may be better.) I am a bit of a fashion victim so I do care what others think, and Dark Side of the Moon may have been with me too long to stop liking it, but do you need to know whether someone else thinks something is good before you can really like it? Part of my character involves liking music that nobody else knows then persuading others to like it. I'm still going to see Four Tet by myself though.

My late father-in-law's voice cuts through the ether to say 'I could have done that' about the bricks in the Tate or a shark in half but the point is Ken that you didn't and if you did it would be plagiarism. Actually if you did now it would be necromancy.

I'm having a conversation with a dead person. Better stop.

Just before, many of my fellow bloggers seem to have contracted an outbreak of telling everyone what they're having for tea. Just to join in can I recommend:

Hot, freshly cooked organic beetroot with cold feta on a bed of mixed leaves. It awaits us after Leamington FC have finished with Rocester in the Travel Factory Midland Alliance.