art theory, learning by watching, learning from seeing

How we learn from art, if indeed we do, is NOT learning by watching, which applies in sports and other kinds of physical activity. In art, it is more a matter of learning from seeing.

So what do we learn by looking at art? It would be fun to argue that people would not have an appetite for all the bad modernist condominium buildings sprouting up all over the world unless they had first embraced Ikea, which itself would not have been possible without years of systematic promotion of abstract art by our cultural institutions.

It would also be fun to argue that only after years of postmodern head softening could religious fundamentalism and right-wing politics resurface without irony.

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