Is Pornography Art?

I think pornography can have artistic value.

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Depends.

"Behind the Green Door" I'd say could argued is art to some degree, "Anal Angels XI"... not so much.

Pornography by definition is "obscene" material with little or no artistic value.
So if you judge something to have great artistic value then it is not pornography.
The use of the term is normally applied (often for political reasons) to deny artistic value of a given piece.
Sexual content (no matter how graphic) does not make something pornographic (although there will of course be people who will try to say it does).

I disagree with the "anything that is created" is art contention, it is too deconstructionist to me, I do think that anything has the potential to be art- art is defined in the significance one gives to it.

art: (from dictionary.com)
1. the quality, production, expression, or realm, according to aesthetic principles, of what is beautiful, appealing, or of more than ordinary significance.
2. the class of objects subject to aesthetic criteria; works of art collectively, as paintings, sculptures, or drawings: a museum of art; an art collection.
3. a field, genre, or category of art: Dance is an art.
4. the fine arts collectively, often excluding architecture: art and architecture.
5. any field using the skills or techniques of art: advertising art; industrial art.
6. (in printed matter) illustrative or decorative material: Is there any art with the copy for this story?
7. the principles or methods governing any craft or branch of learning: the art of baking; the art of selling.
8. the craft or trade using these principles or methods.
9. skill in conducting any human activity: a master at the art of conversation.
10. a branch of learning or university study, esp. one of the fine arts or the humanities, as music, philosophy, or literature.

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>>My own definition of art is anything that is created. Period. >>By man. By nature. Everything.

So by your own definition Auschwitz was just a big art gallery.

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and Cruel, was 9-11 art?

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If you look at the Museum of Sex...I think you see some art. I mean, there are naked people posed suggestively, so it's pornography, I think. But at the same time, the photographs can be beautiful. I would tend to say, though, that most pornography is - if art at all - a very lesser form.

I mean, I suppose there is thought put into the filmography and directorial aspects. But I certainly hesitate to esteem it as "art."

A great deal of our world is art. Take our buildings. Who designed them? Architects. Take your landscaping-landscaping designers. Furniture had to be designed by artists. Clothes are designed by artists. I could go on, but yes, a great deal of life is art.

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Updated On: 3/7/08 at 11:58 AM

Pornography is made to excite.
Art is made to inspire.
Sometimes it does both.

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You sound as if all art must be beautiful or admirable.

All the things you mentioned had to be designed by an artist with pencil and paper, or nowadays, on a computer. It can't be done by just anyone. It takes an artist. I stand by my opinion.

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In order to answer the question "Is pornography art?" we first have to define art, and defining art is as hard as answering the question what is the meaning of life.
The debate is never settled.

If everything is art, then there is nothing to separate art from non-art, thus without the existence of having distinction or comparison, nothing is art.

You sound as if all art must be beautiful or admirable.

No, I am not that ignorant. I know the polite thing to say is that everything is art and anyone who makes anything is an artist. I think that is admirable, idealistic, and completely untrue. Tracing the design of a screwdriver to some specific movement in art history or architectural design does not specifically mean that the "designer" of that screwdriver is an "artist". It could mean a technological concept found success, was copied for years, and will continue to be copied until the next design comes along. Whether or not the new design will be considered art will remain to be seen. But no, I do not consider everything in the world art. Especially when it is a forced expression of a vain ego.

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"Tracing the design of a screwdriver to some specific movement in art history or architectural design does not specifically mean that the "designer" of that screwdriver is an "artist". It could mean a technological concept found success, was copied for years, and will continue to be copied until the next design comes along."

I would say that a screwdriver itself is engineered rather than designed. However, the logo of the toolmaker which might be imprinted on the screwdriver was likely created by a graphic designer and therefore could be considered a form of art.

Is pornography art? Sure, in the same way a corporate logo is. Does it really have any true artistic value in terms of what most of us think of when we talk about "art"? Not really. But where is the line between erotica, which can be quite beautiful and thought provoking, and porn, which is not.