"Embodied Sympathy": i like the idea, bet there's something tripping me up...

and that is, the author seems to be stating that art is incapable of displaying sympathy (or, as the author puts it, to exhibit a feeling while anticipating the feeling of the viewer or purchaser.) As someone who has lived in the "Art World" for many years, i have to differ with this opinion. Art that is made to be SOLD is flat and feelingless. GOOD ART has a feeling, it is not simply an intellectual exercise made for those that are "in the know". Art is a part of the artist, as the author himself quotes, "When he speaks of embodied meaning, Danto suggests an idea made vividly present, practically given flesh and blood. Alternatively, he connects embodiment to a manifestation of the artist's mind: "It is as if a work of art were like an externalization of the artist's consciousness, as if we could see his way of seeing and not merely what he saw". I found this article very nice, touching on things I've found in other sources- like the Japanese ascetic "Wabi Sabi", characterized by modest objects that get more beautiful as they age. I think that it is important for artists too to think of how the veiwer will recieve it- something comforting to you might be kind of freaky to the veiwer, and vice versa, so it's good to take this into account so you can communicate your message more effectiveley.
However, the ugly "art vs. craft war" completely ruined it for me. Good art doesn't need to prove itself. Craft and Art are one, there is no one or the other, they merely are. The author's idea that Art is distant from the veiwer is fundamentally wrong, and it is cultivated by ignorance. Artists (at least the ones i admire and claim as peers) are trying to tell the audience something. Unfortunateley, it seems that we are like Mimes in front of people on cell phones, it's not that we are aloof and far away from the populus, but that people don't take the time to look at art with anything other than "Modernist"-colored glasses. So much GOOD ART is out there, and it doesn't matter weather it could be called craft or art or entertainment or music, it all shares the same thing: Embodied Sympathy.

special art picks that show emotion and embodied sympathy:

http://www.alexgrey.com/
Alex Grey's Phsycadelic paintings show that the human body is just another manifestation of the divine, and draws the user into the artist's wonder and enlightened feeling through their complexity and glowing colors.

Laurie Anderson (Smoke Rings on YouTube)
Anderson is a performance artist and musician. She likes to talk about how lost and confused people can become in modern society (specifically American society), though her pieces vary, and often speaking about longing, confusion, and displacement. This particular piece haunted me for years, (not the first 60 seconds, i'm not sure what that's about.) People naturally connect with music, and Anderson's work is both enjoyable and approachable (if a little kooky.)

err...that's all i can think of right now. There are a lot of good ones out there, you just have to look, and they are hidden pretty well, because most artists that make art this good aren't looking to be famous. They just want to make art.