What is Kaprow's main argument?
To me it seems that Kaprow's main argument is that many of the mundane tasks we take part in everyday life could be looked at as art to some. He talks about the simple motions of brushing his teeth. Surely most don't preform the act of brushing one's teeth to be viewed as art. To many art has to be purposely done, not accidentally. Even if someone decided to brush their teeth and call it a performance piece why would I want to go see it? Kaprow is trying have us viewers blend the lines between art and every day things in life. To some extent we already do this. Some look at a majestic landscape or a fawn drinking from a pond and call it art because it's pretty to look at and gives them a similar feeling. But that landscape didn't decide to be art. And that fawn doesn't care what you think about it's drinking habits. Maybe there are aliens somewhere watching us brush our teeth because they think it is beautiful or means something greater than good dental hygiene.
How does the reading relate to theme of the class/ how might it help you make art?
This reading relates to the class in the sense that these small things that are part of our life have been around for so long and have been repeated so many times that they are simply habit and blend in with the rest of the day. We have taken so much time out of our lives repeating these monotonous tasks that we no longer need to think about them.
Do any verbs or actions stick out to you in this reading?
The scene he set up of him brushing his teeth was very descriptive.
