The main purpose of this essay is to study ideas concerning the concept of ”art” within the discourse of the exhibition space that is part of a fanart community. In order to do so I have used a hermeneutical and to some extent structuralistic, discourse analysis. I have examined structure and rhetorics in two established and popular communities, Fanart-Central and deviantART.

My conclusions states that personal ideas regarding artistic value are undermined the joint policies, because of a collective rhetoric somewhat inherent in the community structure.

When a lot of works are being based on internal knowledge of symbolics and historical narratives, this may to some extent have consequences where unfamiliar observers might fail to notice elements of possible significance. Moreover, certain interests in keeping a united front of “quality art” may also affect a general idea immediate to what signifies fanart. By means of for example categorization, censure, and quality control, specific standards of “good art” are framed and conceded within the communities. Trying to sustain specific criteria as emblematic for the entire genre like this seems highly restraining, and also contradicts the essentially liberal principals of fan culture.