Works of Art and Mere Objects

At the beginning of his book The Transfiguration of the Commonplace, Arthur Danto imagines an exhibit of paintings that all appear to be identical red squares. One is ironically called Red Square after the Russian geographical location, another is a minimalist work, another is meant to represent the "Red Dust World" of Nirvana, and still another is meant to represent the Red Sea after the passing of the Israelites. There is one other item which just happens to be a piece of red painted canvas and is not an artwork at all. The only reason it is included in the exhibit is because of its physical similarities to the actual artworks.

Danto then proceeds to try and answer the question, what is it that the mere object does not have that the art works do have? There is something that works of art have beyond their physical properties that makes them reach the exalted state of art. Even if we decide to declare the the red canvas should be declared an artwork, which we can do, it is now no longer just an object and has somehow gained what the others had all along.

What has been interesting me lately is not so much the difference between them; I'll leave that to Danto and others to work out, but why do we feel that when we have added that thing to the red canvas we have elevated it to the status of art? Was the red painted canvas not already a thing of value to rival the works of art in the show? Were I in the market for a red painted canvas and went to this show to buy such a thing, would I not walk out of there with the mere object because of it's relative value?

So here is the question I am pondering, it is possible to make the red canvas a work of art through some non-physical attribute that we add to it. Is it possible to take an art work and make it back into a mere object? Once we have added that which makes something art, is it ever possible to take it back? Under what circumstances would that be possible?

So in this blog I will be considering works of art and mere objects, what gives them value, what makes them interesting, and what is the line between them.