Can a car be art?
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All is art. None is. It depends entirely on perception, and that is arbitrary and shifts without notice. I've see things in museums that I thought were worthless pieces of garbage, and considering their longevity in installation and the public eye, I was probably right; and there are some things that have stood the test of time that I feel are perfectly mundane. Other things are stunning to me, pretty much anything living (designed or not is a matter of opinion), aircraft, architecture...on and on.
To me, older cars are art. They were very different and stood apart from each other, they had style and design. Nowadays, unless you look at the high end cars or the odd standout (i.e. the return of the Mustang and Charger), cars all look pretty much the same. They've stopped being art and become functional, restricted by economical construction, engineering and fuel efficiency.
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Art is also about Process. The mindset of the creator, the work method, and the intended use. I think people universally look at a shaker chair or something like that as a work of art. It probably didn't start out that way by the Shakers, but the process and mindset --trhe attention to detail. . .were so clear and so wonderfully executed, that it transcended function to become a work of true beauty. The Barcelona chair by contrast was created with the mindset of the "artist" -- Mies doing Capital "D" Design. not very comfortable as a chair, but still you gotta love how beautiful it is. The B chair really was intended to be sculpture. As far as cars go. . .Raymond Leowy. .. .Great designer -- great Artist. So . . . it's fairly obvious . . .. there is no solution to this question.
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