art-world vs life-world

One of the things I always remember and always forget is that the art-world is us and the creepy freaks in the galleries and the museums work for us. Not the other way around. I have been reading a lot of art blogs about society this and society that, art-world this, art-world that. Really, we choose who to listen to. It is a little difficult to remember when the democracy we grew up with and expected to help us turned against us and bit us all on the ass. But that is hardly a reason to turn over and die.

I've also been thinking a little about this argument of art-like versus life-like art, and wonder, with respect to all the commited abstract artists, how the conversation they're holding can really move anywhere. It seems to me that most abstract art is now working more in the area of appropriation and can't really go much beyond that. Not that there is anything wrong with Sherry Levine. This goes in for my Wittgensteinian argument that art is part of language and new modes of expression using existing vocabularies is more interesting to me than inventing new vocabularies that speak mostly about existing understandings. Anyway, I don't see any limit to inviting new people into this dialogue. And I think Diletante Ventures did a bang up job, at least for my side.