Kara Lysandra Ross Interviewed by John Pototschnik

Kara Lysandra Ross Interviewed by John Pototschnik

2 January, 2014

Part I of a II part interview has just been published, click here to read the interview.
How would you summarize the ARC philosophy? "I would say that the main core of the ARC philosophy is that the definition of art has been over expanded to the point where the word "art" has lost its integrity. When any object can be placed on a pedestal and called art, when anything is art, then nothing is art. Anytime you have a definition that expands to encompass everything, then it ceases to have meaning.	An Offering by Frank Dicksee
The ARC philosophy does its best to define what art is. There is of course a difference between craft, decorative art, fine art, and good and bad art, and places of grey where it is perhaps hard to draw the line. This of course makes some people angry. They tend to say things like "who are you to say what is or is not art" but if not us then who? We have stepped forward with scholars and experts, to try and bring respect back to the word and create a sensible type of definition, broad as it may be. Someone had to be the first to publicly state that the "emperor has no cloths". Shark parts in formaldehyde are not art, they are at best an educational science tool; statues of the Virgin Mary made out of cow manure is not art, they are just disgusting; putting bags of trash in the center of a museum and calling it installation art, does not make it art, they are still bags of trash. It is like trying to call an apple an orange; just because you say it is, doesn't make it true. Art is an integral part of every culture, having the power to shape nations and civilizations; the word art is something that should be respected, not just given frivolously. We focus on realism because it is the universal language and the only form capable of expressing and communicating without words the depth of mankind's experiences."