But Is this art?

It can be.
The medium does not define Art; it is the presentation of the subject matter that defines Art..
BEN BRADSHAW


This is a similar question to 'is a photograph art'? While George Segal made it respectable & accepted as art, his articfacts just don't seem to compare w/ the worst Rodin I can think of. Gaston Lachaise's Standing Woman is a gr8 example of a body that exists nowhere but in the mind and then from the hands of the sculptor.
Thomas Kite


I am a blacksmith, blacksmithing can be a craft or it can be art. If I make a fire poker or a door hinge blacksmithing it is then a craft; if I make a sculpture it then becomes art.
Same with body casting.

BEN BRADSHAW



If one makes a sculpture, it's an object. Whether or not it's art is an open question. A fire poker can be art if it transcends its purpose by its overwhelming beauty. Functionality should not be a gating factor to what art is.
Copying reality in a mechanical way in and of itself can't be art. In this case, rather art would have to be somehow present in the copy in spite of how it's made. Segal's work is lightweight I my view b/c it appears to elevate the mundane by being mundane. The process is part of what he was going for and it works against anything more.
Thomas Kite



I suppose that would depend upon the motivations of the artist or craftsman. As a way to change how people see the world, maybe. As a way to make a few bucks, probably not
Brian Wolfe