Survey: Questions on the Nature of Art

[RJ 17]

Good day, my fellow Escapists!

Got time for a quick survey? I'm just trying to prove a point to a friend of mine and I could use your help in doing so. Please take a moment and answer these questions, if you would:

1: What is the purpose of art?
2: What is art's function?
3: Who determines the meaning behind art: the artist or the "audience" (those people other than the artist that experience the work of said artist)?

Just know that these questions are quite specifically chosen, so answer them as best as you can as they relate to you.

 

[Skatologist]

This seems cool, and I had watched Moviebob's old video on the subject and have a few opinions of this on my own.

1: What is the purpose of art?

For me, it is give out a message with some sort of emotion or feeling being conveyed. This is why I have a very loose definition of art. So loose that I can consider the fronts of cereal boxes art. I'm not sure how I am able to distinguish between this sort of art and many news broadcasts however, but I am of the opinion that documentaries, even bad ones, are art. I suppose you could say adding "artistic means" differentiates a documentary from a report, but it still seems like a bit of a grey.

Basically, I take the "all art is propaganda" approach to things, so it may be that when I see something with a message, I consider it art, because it is, by definition, propaganda.

2: What is art's function?

Get an idea/worldview/story out to the public to be seen, heard, recognized, etc., not sure how it's different than the first question.

3: Who determines the meaning behind art: the artist or the "audience" (those people other than the artist that experience the work of said artist)?

Audience I suppose, although, if an artist fails to explain there message well, I consider it a it a bit of a failure if they recognize their work did not get their desired result. I say audience, but audiences are split for many pieces of art and we can never really know some of the intentions behind artists or what was attempted to being conveyed. I say this in considerations to a person's subconscious and people, myself included, not knowing where origins of thoughts and feelings come from, ultimately muddying what the "true" intent of a work was.

An example, I always thought the Aesop Fable of the Tortoise and the Hare was not about "slow an steady wins the race", but that "pride comes before a fall" and "you'll have time to celebrate after you succeed in your goals". Now, am I wrong in believing this when every piece of media discussing the story reemphasizes the first message and not the others I have? I'd argue no, but I'm definitely open to changing my mind of any of the views I discuss here.

 

[RJ 17]

2. How is this question intended to be any different from the first? Might want to either drop it or rephrase it.

Question one asks "Why do "Art"?" Question 2 asks "Of what use is "Art"?"

Captcha: "Marry Me"

Errmmmm, no thanks, Captcha...I think our relationship is moving a bit too fast...

 

[Pirate Of PC Master race]

1. Satisfaction of whatever form for the artist.(caused by physical, emotional or financial satisfaction/gain by said art.)

2. Whatever people do with art.(in short, possibly anything. i.e: burning them, eating them, hang them on the wall, watch them, etc)

3. Whoever that "uses" art for whatever purpose mentioned on my answer #2.

 

[KraQ]

1: What is the purpose of art?

Art is simply a way of communicating the thoughts and emotions of an individual.

2: What is art's function?

Art's value to society as a whole is the same as any other form of socialization.

3: Who determines the meaning behind art: the artist or the "audience" (those people other than the artist that experience the work of said artist)?

"Meaning" is a purely subjective response to observed phenomenon. I see no distinction between an artist and the audience. While an artist might have an idea of what they might want to create, art is rarely the perfectly translated result of an artist's vision. It's similar to the question of who decides the "meaning" of a sentence. The speaker/writer encodes certain feelings and thoughts into their words with the hopes of the audience decoding those emotions, but the more abstract and metaphorical words becomes, the less likely it is that the audience is to interpret a specific meaning. Furthermore, speech is often not meant to convey a specific meaning and is instead intended to draw out the audience's own thoughts and feelings. Even better, the open ended nature words can cause a simple sentence to suddenly have a profound meaning when inspected by the right audience.

"Keep cool, never Freeze."