Spaghetti, Lyotard

Lyotard observes that "the modern aesthetic question is not 'What is beautiful?' but 'What can be said to be art (and literature)?'(41). Immediately I chuckled to myself as I read this quote and looked across my dorm room and up to the wall above my roommate's desk. There is stuck a small orange poster with a black and white picture and an Andy Warhol quote: "art is what you can get away with." I knew exactly what Lyotard is talking about here. He goes on to make an interesting point about the existence of reality, which reminded me of a definition I learned in a linguistic anthropology course a couple of years ago.
The definition was of the term "culture." The concept was something along the lines of a group of people organized with common respect to symbols. The concept of reality is the same as Lyotard reviews it. He states that "there is no reality unless testified by a consensus between partners over a certain knowledge and certain commitments. In other words, everyone has to agree that a particular symbol has a particular definition in order for that meaning to exist. For example, as citizens of the good ole U.S. of A., it is culturally accepted that our national flag, which is really just a piece of cloth, signifies patriotism, pride, and nationalism.
Lyotard goes on to challenge the common idea of beauty and comes to the conclusion that there is no such thing because not everyone can agree on a definition. Its definition is subjective in terms of an individual's taste which is often muddled by eclectic commodities which surround us constantly. So because this ethereal paragon of "beauty" does not exist, Lyotard argues that an "anything goes" attitude is adopted in the art world (42). He further delves into a capitalist critique which explains that the conditions created under a capitalist society enable "the value of works of art [to be critiqued] according to the profits they yeild" (42).
If competition is the driving force of capitalism (as my Sociological Theory Professor Ed Royce said earlier today in class), then Lyotard is right on the money. He sees art as no longer appreciated for its innovation, but rather for its adherence to conventions that are known to draw in revenue. After all, how successful or well-praised is a work of art if it isn't worth/doesn't make any money? So I will finish with some words of wisdom from Kanye West that I think Lyotard would appreciate today, "Do anybody make real shit anymore?"