deviant art is about capturing peoples attention spans with images. art is content, but in order to rock up ones views one must establish work which instantly appeals to the eye/mind in mere moments as it flashes before one as they surf through pages of other images, and this is then judged by if one likes it enough to favorite it. is that art, or art appreciation? im not one to say what is or is not art, but personally i cant believe this postmodern belief that everything is art, i feel that can't be founded. expression, maybe, but to me art needs compelling content or reason. i don't think have of my stuff is art, or even more, and it is a suffocating feeling as an artist when something that i put myself into and complete with purpose and implied direction or meaning is diluted and lost by the plethora of purely aesthetic pictures of images. there is a place for images, and a place for art,lets not forget the distinction between the two. if something appeals to the eye, that doesn't mean it is upper case a art, and although contemporary culture is breeding us to be voracious consumers lets not look past our responsibilities of awareness and thought. Check out the artistic nude category, and see how many views some pornographic images have, how many favs. The female and male nude form is something to be respected, not to be exploited for perverts who make disgusting comments about how nice folds are and such, much of that shit is degrading porn, not art, and anyone can easily tell the difference in that category. it all comes down to instant visual gratification, which is a product of how we are raised. In a gallery you have 7 seconds to capture a veiwer's attention, well to be in a gallery the curator must be convinced that the peice is substantially composed, thought-out, and carried through. Content craftpersonship and purpose determine art, Pollock had a genuine and original purpose and content, thus his drip paintings are art, are "avant garde" in their unique and original mentality on process, but now that that has been done it is a different thing, and everyone who does their own drip paintings are not doing art. sorry, ill say that and be the mean person, but if we follow this postmodern "everything is art" bs, then we strip the intrinsic value and meaning and purpose from everything that art has been and replace it with the watered down value of crafts, something that everyone can do and especially upon first attempt with no need for studies or planning or sketches. vain visual stimuli void of depth or perfection.