High Art - Pop Culture

I was looking through some art related articles online when I stubbled upon this. It's article about a gallery in Beverly Hills showing Japanese anime displayed as high art. The exhibition is called "Anime! High Art - Pop Culture."

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/feature/2009-05-15

I had never seen anything like this where Japanese anime was being shown in a gallery. Most people see comic book art as something completely different from fine art. It has only been recently that Western comic art has started to be more respected as art.

I used to draw a lot of anime when I was in high school and being involved in art, I had always been steered away from drawing that because it was not "art." There has always been this dividing line between fine art and comic art. It is seen more as cartooning and childish. It's interesting to see how the general definition of art changes over time. It shows just how fickle art is.

It makes me wonder if something becomes art simply because it is seen in a gallery. It seems like as soon as something is shown in a gallery everyone immediately excepts it as art. if something is big, matted, and hung on a wall, it becomes art. This is really frustrating as a student trying to become an artist it means our work is only excepted as art once it shown in a major gallery. It's things like this that make me want to steer away from the art community...