What is
art? Now that I’ve been engaging in possible art-like activities I’ve been
thinking about this a lot. Am I doing art? Am I not doing art? Is art even a
thing that you can do? Let’s talk about it.
I’ve heard
it said that art has no function but itself. I struggle to even comprehend the
implications of this definition. Personally, my drawings are meant to convey
meanings. I’m trying to express feelings, thoughts, and even humor. I’m using
it to communicate, and that seems like a function outside of art itself. Apparently
I’m not doing art. Does that mean stuff like Emily Dickinson’s poetry is
real art? Maybe art is writing poems just because you can and not actively sharing
them. It might just be me, but I still see function in this. Writing down
thoughts and feelings helps relieve mental tension and expands your
understanding. These are functional things. Emily is out then. All that leaves
is really abstract stuff. Say I make a snow ball and throw it at a concrete
wall just to see what kind of pattern it makes. Art? Nothing is communicated
since I’m by myself and the snow will quickly melt. I don’t gain any new
understandings (other than more reinforcement for my belief in physical laws,
but that would only really be something if it didn’t follow expectations). It
does make me feel kind of good. Is that a function? I’m pretty sure this
definition of art is terrible, and I’m going to abandon it.
 |
| Art? |
It’s time
to come up with my own definition. How about; anything that conveys meaning in
a subjective manner. The word subjective is the important part. Who cares about
if art is creative or useful; I think the important aspect is that it’s
different for everyone. Real art should generate a personal experience for
anyone that encounters it. For any item or art; be it song, drawing, sculpture,
book, or anything else; some people should enjoy it and some people shouldn’t. They
should also do it for personal and unique reasons. Furthermore, the people who
don’t like art are just as important as the ones who do. If everyone liked art
it wouldn’t be the same. Inventing a device to make anyone’s brain experience a
designated feeling isn’t art. If I like “One Night in Bangkok” because
it’s a metaphor for my life, another person likes it for the Thailand
references, and another person hates it because they think the 80’s were the
lowest point in music history, that’s good. That’s great. That’s ART.
Just as someone
who doesn’t like art is important to the art, art someone doesn’t like is
important to the person. If you don’t like modern pop music, that doesn’t mean
that it’s bad and shouldn’t exist. If everyone just “made music like they used
to” then there would be no variety, no originality, no contrast. If disliked
music didn’t exist, you couldn’t understand liked music. All you could say is “I
like music”. That still implies a contrast (as in music over painting), so all
you could really say is “I Like” and that doesn’t have any meaning. There needs
to be contrast for anything to have real meaning. If black didn’t exist alongside
white I would have a really hard time trying to get any points across.
In
conclusion, I think art for an individual is distinguishing what is liked from
what it not. Drawing has made me much more aware of this. Now when I look at an
illustration I note things like the line work, coloring, shading, realism, and
perspective. I then decide if I like them or not. This goes beyond things that
would traditionally be described as art. While brushing my teeth this morning I
was looking at the way my hand held the brush and how the brush entered my
mouth and was able to view it the same way I would a painting. Some positions
were good and some weren’t. Different arrangement conveyed different meanings.
I suddenly have no idea where my definition of art stops, but I think that’s a
good thing.
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