Mike,
On Sep 5, 2013, at 10:07 PM, "McAuley, Mike" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> In the area of illustration, the question "is illustration art or design?" often comes up. The answer is always context. Take, for example the artist/illustrator Sue Coe. Coe has been commissioned to illustrate for numerous editorial publications. In that context her images are illustrations used to bring some clarity to a passage of written text. This can be seen, in the context of design, a means of providing service to an audience, i.e. the readers. This is design. In some instances images that Coe has produced for magazines have then been re-used and exhibited in art galleries. This time her images are used to challenge an audience, to make them question their attitudes. In this context these very same images are now art. So, context, context context. Design CAN be art.
You hit the proverbial nail on the head with "context." I would argue that "art" in the museum/gallery/art history sense is a context rather than a specific sort of activity or artifact. It's art if it's in the conversation; if it's not in the conversation, it's not art. When something that is not in the conversation becomes part of the conversation, it becomes art. So when people say "I make art," they might more accurately say "I make what I hope will be art." (I suppose that those who are already central to the conversation can claim to be making art rather than making potential art.)
Illustration is definitely a context. If visual material enhances (or, on rare occasion, replaces) textual material, it's illustration. If it doesn't, it's something else.
Sue Coe's work is sometimes illustration and it's sometimes art. If I remember correctly, the polemic that started this thread made a stab at separating art from deliberate stuff like propaganda. People who want to make that distinction are comfortable with stuff being both illustration and propaganda (as Coe's work often is) but don't get that her work is often art and propaganda at the same time. As I've defined things here, it would be quite rare for something to be art and illustration at the same time although, as you point out, the same piece can be each but in different contexts.
Gunnar
Gunnar Swanson
East Carolina University
graphic design program
http://www.ecu.edu/cs-cfac/soad/graphic/index.cfm
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Gunnar Swanson Design Office
1901 East 6th Street
Greenville NC 27858
USA
http://www.gunnarswanson.com
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