What is Art?
This week, I asked several people, “What is art?” Every
description I heard included the word “expression.”
For me, art can be a means of expression, but it must first meet
(my) two criterions:
1) It is the result of a person
attempting to create something new; and
2) The creation was composed for
the sake of art.
By my definition then, a computer-generated work is not art- it
is simply an output. (Please know that I do recognize the skill it takes
to program a computer to create something, but it still doesn’t count as art,
for me….)
Also when a person attempts to create something new, but not for the
sake of art, it is not art. If I bend a paperclip into a fancy
design because I’m antsy, it’s not art.
And to elaborate further, once someone is known for creating art, it
doesn’t necessarily follow that everything he touches becomes art. If
Michelangelo dropped his paintbrush while hanging from the ceiling of the
Sistine Chapel, the spatter-pattern on the drop cloth would not have been art.
To illustrate my definition, I thought of a basic item to search on
Google: a Band-Aid. I typed in “Band-Aid Art,” and a bazillion
images appeared.
Here is one image. To me, this is not art, as nothing new has
really been created.
However, I would consider this one to be art, as the Band-Aids
have been transformed into something
new.
Do I find this aesthetically appealing? Not really, but that
doesn’t mean that it isn't art. Aesthetic value and artistic value are
not necessarily synonymous.
So now what is your definition of art?
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