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If you believe Duchamp, you are an artist because you declare you are. I think art is a seeing act, not a making act. Painting, readymade, photo... who cares. Saying an artist is cheating because they use a photograph is reducing the artist to a juggler or a card shark or anyone else revered for their skill with their hands. To see; moreover to perceive and know what the thing you have seen could say, could mean to someone else when filtered though the artist's seeing... that is the beginning of art.

"If you believe Duchamp, you are an artist because you declare you are." Well, it's not exactly the same as declaring you're Napolean. But this is about outside confirmation ... you are an artist because other people say your an artist. That goes against the grain of my humble definition of art. I think art is something done purely for the satisfaction, catharsis, and enjoyment of the person who created it. If other people like it, even want to buy it, that's great. But that's not why it was made. It was made to satisfy its creator. It's only a small step from there to "you are an artist because you declare you are." "I think art is a seeing act, not a making act. Painting, readymade, photo... who cares." Indeed, it is about seeing, but it can't stop there. There are amny who can see, but not produce what's in their mind's eye. Their are many craftsmen skilled with their hands who create-by-numbers .... there's no vision, only manual skill. You need both, at some level. But as is often the case, we get caught up in arguing technique, and what's "acceptable." The only proper response is "quit arguing about your tools and go make art."