Trading card games, such as Magic: the Gathering, often commission artists to create original artwork for their cards. Would these pieces, commissioned specifically to appear on a trading card, be considered works of art? Would the cards on which the artwork appears be considered works of art, themselves? Or the trading card game taken as a whole?




This is a very interesting question, since it leads to something more general being asked about the creations of artist. The general question being : if an artist is asked to create something as an artist, then is that which the artist creates always art?
As to the the answer of the more general question and to this particular example, it seems that if the artist were to create the piece with the intention of it being view as art, then it seems that these pieces could be considered art. Although, it may be that the only part of the card that could be considered art would be the actual image itself, not that the whole card or the game, since the primary intentions of the cards or the game would be to be played and not to be held in recognition for aesthetic appreciation.
The artist is commissioned, since he or she is an artist, in the hopes that they will create art. If the artist then takes on the task with the fullest of intentions to be the creation of art, and since one is still working in a medium which is established as art, then it seems that image could be called art.

If an artist is asked to create something as an artist, then is that which the artist creates always art?