Art for art's sake Art for art's sake "Art for art's sake" is the usual English rendering of a French slogan from the early 19th century, "l'art pour l'art", and expresses a philosophy that the intrinsic value of art, and the only "true" art, is divorced from any didactic, moral, or utilitarian function. Such works are sometimes described as "autotelic", from the Greek "autoteles", "complete in itself", a concept that has been expanded to embrace "inner-directed" or "self-motivated" human beings. The term is sometimes used commercially. A Latin version of this phrase ("ARS GRATIA ARTIS") is used as a motto by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and appears
Artis the Spoonman Seattle's Bumbershoot Festival (2003 and 2004) and the Oregon Country Fair. He was a featured performer at the 2013 Northwest Folklife Festival in Seattle. Artis has made television appearances on the BBC and "Late Night with David Letterman", among others. He plays an old man in the 1995 film "Toast with the Gods". Artis has stated he was a sailor in the United States Navy in the late 1960s, and worked for the United States Postal Service in the early 1970s. Artis suffered a heart attack in 2002, and a benefit was organized for him in Seattle. He was reported