Ask a hundred people to define the term 'art' and you will have a hundred definitions. Put two passionate artists together and ask them to agree on what 'art' means, and you may have a script for a reality show.
The Encyclopedia Britannica defines art simply as 'a visual object or experience consciously created through an expression of skill or imagination'. In other words, anything created by a conscious being, for any or no purpose, can potentially fit the definition. Forgive me for not accepting 'it can be anything' as a definition for, well, any thing. Although similar in concept, I suggest a minor adjustment to the above: 'art is a visual object or experience consciously created through an expression of skill, imagination and purpose'.
Skill alone can make for superbly crafted artifacts. Still, craftsmanship is not limited to art. Every single day, engineers, architects, carpenters, machinists and other professionals produce objects of great beauty and utility but with no artistic aspiration or purpose. Requiring skill and imagination means that the result should be something of the artist’s own conception rather than ...
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3 Comments
Love the last paragraph, sums it up perfectly. True also, the camera is just a computer now, but the skill of the operator, both in camera and post, make all the difference. I, personally, will take an image anywhere I want, but like Matisse, I never forget the viewer, and seek to create a story with beauty & grace. I am, of course, aware of the ugliness that exists in the world, but it only inspires me to show the beauty that exists here on this miraculous planet all the more.
Thank you for this. When it comes to art, I think that it needs to stand on its own two feet. I don’t see the inherent demand for it to serve anything beyond itself. Having said that, I am a person with fundamental values that transcend my art. And for me, they are clearly more important than my art. My goal in life is to embody kindness and compassion. I seek to have everything that I am and everything that I do to flow out of that. Thus, I personally seek to use my art in the service of kindness and compassion. For example, a few years ago, I had a friend (although not a close friend) who was dying of cancer. I asked for his permission to every day send him a photograph that I hoped would bring beauty and joy, and hopefully, some dimension of healing to his life. I learned from his closest friend that doing this accomplished just what I hoped that it would. Does art have the prerogative of demanding this kind of behavior. My answer would be, No. But does who I am when I am the best of who I am demand it, Absolutely.
Beautiful, authentically stated sentiment. My husband, Warren Krupsaw, once had an exhibit in the lobby of Children’s Hospital in DC. Patients and their parents made a few comments re how the art uplifted their spirits. Yes, beauty can move people to do better and do good. Thank you for that coment.