Appreciation

Although it was not the main focus of the essay, George Dickie posed an interesting question in his essay What is art? An Institutional Analysis that I thought deserved some attention. Dickie asks on page 433 of the text “is there anything which it is impossible to appreciate?” This philosophical question can be interpreted in many ways, but the way in which I believe Dickie meant to ask the question would be “is there any physical object or other art form which is impossible to appreciate.” I think this interpretation of the question makes most sense because it is best in keeping with the rest of the article. I am sure that Dickie would agree that a punch to the face by your best friend could easily be argued as unappreciated, but from the point of view of interpreting the question in terms of physical objects and art forms I believe that the answer is no, there is nothing that is impossible to appreciate. Although, not every art object or work is appreciated by everyone, the likelihood of finding an artwork which is impossible to appreciate altogether (i.e. no one, including the artist, appreciates the work) seems incredibly unlikely. What are other’s opinions on this question posed by Dickie in the essay? Are there examples of objects or art forms that go unappreciated altogether or do you disagree with my opinion and believe that it is very fathomable that the lack of appreciation of art forms and objects in its entirety is common?