Can a Work of Art Have Value Regardless of Who Creates It? Can, and Should, We Look Past the Character of the Artist - However Immoral We Consider Them to Be - and Simply Experience and Esteem the Work Itself?

Can a work of art have value regardless of who creates it? Can, and should, we look past the character of the artist - however immoral we consider them to be - and simply experience and esteem the work itself?  


                        Art is such a simple word, consisting of just three letters, and yet it takes ceaseless flows of discussions, arguments, debates and theories just on the very definition of it. So what is just so important about this creative field? We have to acknowledge that life would be infinitely dull without art and that we would possibly live solely on cerebral methods. Therefore, art is something that develops us to be more thoughtful and well-rounded humans.   The value of an art is difficult to be determined. A mother may see the doodles and drawings of her little son as art of very high value, but a stranger who has no connections with the family might view them as mere childish scribbles with a value equivalent to rubbish. Therefore, can a work of art have value regardless of who creates it? Possibly, but the values vary. We can see from the situation mentioned earlier that emotion plays a role in determining a work of art. The mother thinks that the 'artworks' by her child are of great value and treasures them since there are sentimental attachments in them. And so if a work of art is to be judged by its sentimental value, the emotion that one feels toward the creator of the artwork would influence how valuable it is.  

                        There are several criteria which determines the value of an artwork. Apart from sentimental value, there is also the monetary value as well. There are cases where an artwork, although not that sentimentally or aesthetically valuable nor is it original, has been sold for huge sums of money, sometimes to an incredulous amount. Tracey Emmin's work, My Bed, is one of these cases. Her artwork which consists of an unmade bed with packets of condoms and a bottle of vodka next to it was... [continues]

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