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Is there a canonical version/account of the idea that “the difference between craft and art is risk”? I’ve heard versions of this over the years but never thought to look for a specific source. I assume the risk meant is usually that of profaning sacredness. Is this right?
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I would assume the risk is couched in terms of personal vulnerability. If I make a chair the worst it can be is a bad chair, but if I tell a story the worst it can be is an embarrassing revelation of my tastes, values, and anxieties.
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I think artistic sacredness is universally contaminated, although to vastly varying degrees. But I think this ideal is the one being referred to, yes.
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No it’s about being subject to market forces, an artisan must satisfy customers while an artist has no customers
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Simply defined, the risk of aesthetic failure. A craftsperson is safe in knowing how to dependably churn out products, an artist is always at risk of overshooting the mark to produce something that doesn't deliver in artistic terms, with reputational or financial consequences.
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I like this. Risk tends to sometimes confer “possibility of bad outcome” but maybe more we’re saying that there is any kind of volatility in a work’s acceptance. It’s unknown if everyone can relate to a work of art, or when. Craft uses the tools of art but removes the beta.