CRAFT alone does not create art. Mere virtuosity can become a fetish, a display of empty mastery. When the artwork becomes a sign or message, the affective, symbolic, or subconscious dimensions get devalued. Art no longer lingers in one’s memory, it just speaks—too clearly, too didactically, too easily.
Craft is what Adorno calls the “substratum of semblance”—the foundation on which art is created.
Krauss also speaks to the elements that help decode genuine art, the importance of materials, history, and forms.
authentic art then, transcends its own craft—it produces an experience that can’t be reduced to technical skill.
It evokes ambiguity, contradiction and unconscious depth.
It seeks meaning in the sublime and through the unconscious.
Art by Kate W 