What is Art?

What is Art... and Why do I care?

As we go about our daily lives, a strange phenomenon is occurring right in our own backyard.  It is celebrated by many, scorned by some, and embraced as our salvation by others. That phenomenon is called “ART”. Art has existed for centuries as a means of expression, storytelling, and even as decoration adorning the walls of kings, and the floors of nobility. Yet, art is a misunderstood element of our society. Art is the first thing to be cut out of a school program as unnecessary, and is often characterized as matching décor, sold to accessorize rooms and compliment the color of our sofa.

So what is art? Why is it so important and yet misunderstood? Let us first attack the question of, what is art? A quick search on Google resulted in sixty million, nine hundred thousand possible definitions of art. Evidently, there exists some confusion on the definition of art. My copy of Webster’s Dictionary defines art as “something pretty”. I would tend to argue that art is not always pretty based on my experiences viewing some modern art. The trusted Encyclopedia Britannica defines art as "the use of skill and imagination in the creation of aesthetic objects”.

I have to ponder this definition, because I am aware of a 10 year old elephant named Elsa, living in Bali, that has been painting for over 5 years. Does Elsa, the elephant, have the imagination necessary to create art…does her art meet the definition of art put forth by the encyclopedia Britannica?  Another definition of art put forth by the Great Russian author, Leo Tolstoy is, “we should cease to consider it (art) as a means to pleasure and to consider it (art) as one of the conditions of human life”. My personal definition of “art” is that art is defined by the creativity and inspiration of all forms of art…musicians, writers, poets, painters, theater and stage, plus associated disciplines.  It is easy to see why art lacks a satisfactory definition.

Do we have to understand or define art to appreciate it? No… The definition of art is based on our own interpretation of art, our surroundings, our experiences, and it is a subjective opinion produced from who we are. Therefore, the growth of the arts in our backyard should be welcomed as an extension of our own personalities, in other words, everyone has a different opinion on what is good art. That diversity of opinion can be a wonderful thing,   if we embrace it