A Google search for “what is art” yields 1.4 billion results. That is billion with a b. It is painstakingly obvious that there are an incredible number of voices and opinions out there on what constitutes as art and what doesn’t.
Being mindful of the sea of noise that is already on this topic out there and being fully aware of the irony of the situation, I tentatively add my drops of opinion to the sea.
The most succinct definition of art that I have come across is not really a definition but rather a quote. Unfortunately, at the time of writing this, the name of the author of the quote escapes me. Despite many Google searches, I am not able to confirm who this quote belongs to. The only thing that I can confirm is, rather, unfortunately, I did not come up with it.
For art to be art, it must have something of the artist in it.
That quote to me captures the essence of art as I see it and the following example best illustrates the idea.
Imagine a tourist snapping picture near a mountain purely for as a record of her having being near that mountain at that moment in time. The resulting image would be a snapshot in time. But it is not art.
Now imagine the same tourist taking the time to personally experience being awed by the grandiosity (if that is indeed what the tourist feels) of the mountains and then making the picture of the mountain in a way that best expresses how she feels about the mountain. That is art.
When Van Gogh painted the Starry Night, he wasn’t just looking to document the view of Saint-Rémy from the window of the mental hospital. Instead, he expressed what he was feeling at that time – perhaps it was insanity, through, among other things, use of exaggerated brush strokes in that painting.
Van Gogh did not paint what he saw. He painted what he felt.
I also don’t believe that art is subjective to the viewer. If the viewer doesn’t feel moved by a photograph that the artist put his heart and soul into it, that doesn’t mean that photograph is not art. At worse, that photograph is bad art or an unsuccessful art. But it is art nonetheless.
This is the definition of art that resonates with me the most and now I hope it does with you too.
At this point, I have also stopped looking for a better definition of art – simply because I do not think it is worth the hassle. Art is subjective and as the 1.4 billion Google search results show, it is impossible for us to agree on just one definition. Besides, trying to find one unifying definition of art is a job for the theorists. I am not an art theorist and don’t pretend to be one. Therefore, I am happy settling with a definition that works best for me and then moving on.
I am an artist and talking about art is not same as making art. I am about making art. This blog is also about making art.
