Taste

I think that both paintings are tasteful and I would consider them art. Both have a stimulating effect, making the viewer curious as to what the settings of the pictures are. I believe that if a piece of art can cause a reaction in the audience, it is tasteful since it then has made a purpose of itself. Even if the art is repulsive, it has stimulated a reaction. Now comes the question of is it good or bad taste. I guess the artists who created both paintings had some message that they are attempting to communicate through their art, however I don’t understand what it is. So to me, I think the paintings are tasteful, but the artists had bad taste for painting something so obscure. On the other hand, I may have bad taste for not liking or understanding the paintings. I want to say that all art has taste because someone is bound to like it, but I don’t personally find all art tasteful. But who is to determine taste and who do you evaluate in your process. Does the artist, the art, or the observer have taste? Attempting to determine taste is sort of a dead end since it is similar to a philosophical question where there is no right or wrong answer. If something isn’t tasteful, is it not art? I would say that it is still art, since I already concluded in my essay that everything is art. I’ve been told that I do not have very good taste, but I think that there shouldn’t be a standard for taste, since it is very individualistic. If I have good taste, that just means I like what society has determined to be good. Being told that I have bad taste is complimentary and would rather have my own unique taste. In the case of the paintings, I don’t think that my taste aligns with the taste of the artist, which is why I don’t enjoy looking at them.