Asklemmy

It does matters who did/does the art. That's only possible if you can separate the two. Art can be copied and has been since forever. People value the same art from different artists differently. It's not the art itself that carries the value. If the painting of the Mona Lisa in the Louvre turned out to be a facsimile for display, it's identical in every way, would the people enjoy it less? Say that it isn't 'real' even though it is right there in front of their eyes? Would that facsimile be worth the same? Clearly people aren't just interested in what the art is, but who made it. We believe that the artist puts meaning and intent in the art, but these aren't in the art itself. For most of the art we experience that is completely unavailable to us. There is clearly a distinction between our experience of art and our experience of art from the 'original' artist. So while knowing who made what and why adds value to art, it isn't necessary to experience and enjoy this art.

It is completely conceivable that someone feels attracted to the aesthetics of art whilst fully ignorant about the artist. The artist can't control someones emotions, thoughts and feelings. It's not the artist who decided what aesthetics evolved adter millions of years of human evolution, conditioning, culture. An artist can only hope to align themselves to it and hope people agree on it. And so good art can elicit all the right feelings even when nothing is known about the. artist.