in and of itself

Grayson Perry in today’s BBC news online states that art has to address history.. yes I agree.. it has to do more than represent.. more than merely to picture or to replicate, unless that replication in itself addresses history, culture or nature in a way that questions and adds to. It is more than an image- in itself and of itself, it is what it addresses and how it addresses. Take Duchamps The Fountain for instance... a toilet in other words but when it was first presented as a piece for an exhibition it addressed the issue of what art is.. that big thorny issue of what art is.... and it challenged prevailing thought and so became art in and of itself