Ryan

In the short excerpt "Art Which Can't be Art" written in 1986, Allan Kaprow talks briefly about what can be considered art, opposed to just everyday activities. He goes into the social aspects of how art is percieved as being mainly conventional, but he suggests that art is a part of everyday life. He uses brushing his teeth as an example. Some issues Kaprow talks about deals with the concept of art being judged based on its professional skill, creativity and what category of "art" it falls under etc. Kaprow suggests that the concept of simple actions such as brushing your teeth, is something important and worth considering. It seems that Kaprow percieves art as something of a mind body relationship, which spiritually enhances one self. So to take a piece of art and frame it makes it conventional art. But brushing your teeth ideally can give one the equal satisfaction and reward as any other art.

After reading this article, i think i can see where he is coming from. There has always been the debate dealing of what is and isn't real art. What Kaprow is going into is the concept and the feeling that art reflects and gives back to the individual, rather than just the direct visual and asthetic appeal it might give off. His tooth brushing example made for a good point because it reflected both an everyday activity as well as a mind-body union. The truth is, we spend most of our lives doing activities which are so repetitive we start to become unaware of the essence of each. I think it is artistic in itself by becoming totally aware of what we do in our everyday lives.