The Power of Art

In this short book, Markus Gabriel asserts that art is essentially uncontrollable. The nature of artworks is to be autonomous to such an extent that the art world can never overpower it. Since the time of the cave paintings at Lascaux, art has possessed human minds. With the emergence of art, we became human beings, that is, creatures who live in the light of the image of the human being and its place in the world and in relation to other species. Due to its structural, ontological power, art has been and remains radically autonomous. And yet this power is deeply ambiguous, as we are unable to control its action. In this book, a leading representative of the «new realism» applies this philosophical perspective on art to create a new aesthetic realism.