What is Art?

Hello intermerweb

Today I am going to throw out a question for all you art lovers.

What is art?

Now this is one of the most difficult questions to answer. This is mainly because there is no definite answer. The answer to this question is similar to the question “What is the meaning of life?”. Every one has a different answer to the question. All of the answers are right but yet at the same time all of them are wrong.

Many great minds over the years have tried to answer this puzzling question but the one person who in my opinion summerises this best is Leo Tolstoy who philosophised “art must create a specific emotional link between artist and audience, one that “infects” the viewer”.

Art has a personal subject matter for everyone. Each person will like different styles and forms of art. Many people disagree about what is considered art or not. Some people believe art to be only for a short instance of time such as a ballet or interpretive dance. Others believe that art is only relevant for the generation which understands the meaning of the time and some people believe that all colours represented on canvas are senseless dots. Whilst some believe in the timeless enchantment of music which is passed down from age to age unchanged instilling inspiration, touching each mans soul.

All of these views are right but yet all of them are wrong. The key reason for this as I have previously stated is that art is relative from person to person. Each person perceives different forms of art to be good whilst others to be bad.

My stand point on art is the most logical and widely believed by all intelligent and logical people. This is that art should be able to stand the test of time, it should inspire, it should motivate, it should be memorable and of the utmost purpose and stay with you till you die. This is the definition of truly great art. Art which is only relevant to the time or needs to be explained is not good art. Art which relates to a small minority of people and is meaningless to the rest is not art. When looking at a work of art you should be able to see the artist’s intentions and feel what he was trying convey to the viewer. Art should be meaningful on its own but when combined with other works should be inspiring. A truly good piece of art should lead you around it, making you take in the story which is being conveyed by the artist.

This is what I think art should be

The bird has flown