The Art of Skill Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

The Art of Skill - Essay Example The camera claimed supreme ability to recreate reality, and accordingly art took different direction. Taking cues from Duchamp and Warhol, the artist Jeffrey Koons developed a style of art that was completely unreliant upon personal skill and instead relied upon reproduction and appropriation. Several reasons for the devaluing of skill in art include the rise of such artists as Koons who intentionally create art that is made without skill. Beech also states that contemporary art itself is involved in taking skills way from artists. While Beech does not view Koons in such a way of devaluing skills, I wish to argue to the contrary in part of my overall argument. Beyond Beech’s argument, I would also like to state that it is part the mass production of various artists in universities that is devaluing skill to an extent. In discussing an exhibit by Jeffrey Koons, the reviewer Lynne Cooke notes that Koons sculptures were â€Å"executed by highly skilled craftsmen in small factories in Italy working, under the supervision of the artist, to two dimensional images which Koons provided as models† (246). Notice that the reviewer states that the craftsmen were â€Å"highly skilled.† This is interesting to note, especially when considering that an artist can achieve fame without being able to create the artwork himself. The people who actually put the physical labor into creating the pieces were simply called craftsmen. In considering this, we can see how actual skill in art is held at no value. The people with the skill who were involved with the project were not artists. They simply handled the technical aspects of the creation of the pieces. Ideologically speaking, it is not necessary in any way for the artist to be skilled in any way in order to be successful. Perhaps it is because Koons i s unskilled that he is has the success to the extent that he does. Koons is by far one of the most