What is art?

[AngloDoom]

To my understanding,art is very vague,meaningless.

[...]

You can't see that clearer then in the modern day where we have Beethoven and ancient architects being compared to graffiti and cheese sculptures.

It say that it is "meaningless" is quite a statement. I understand that art is, indeed, vague: but I consider art a form of expression or to create a statement.

Why is it that Beethoven and architects are considered art, but graffiti is not? Is it because it is an untraditional method of creating that expression? The problem is that if we took your example of graffiti, and put it on a canvas, people would be much more inclined to pronounce it art because it follows the tradition ideals of what an artist is.

Simply put, art is a message delivered in a round-about way that, hopefully, adds further to the message.

Everything that is painted is not art, just how not all video-games and poetry is not art. The poem I made when I was eight in which I just wrote sentimental crap because I was told to is not a message to be delivered to a reader, so it is not art. Other poems that do express a view are art, no matter how well that message is delivered.

'Good' and 'bad' art is totally subjective, however. Mozart, to use your example again, is totally lost on me simply because I have no idea about music. To me, Mozart is less of an artist than a contemporary band such as Muse, because I understand the message that is being delivered, and I see the way in which the music accompanies or sometimes contradicts the lyrics in such a way that it gives you a better understanding of the message.

Art is subjective, if you're looking for an iron term for it then you won't find it. Art functions as a way of drawing emotion or thought out of you in a way that's (hopefully) surprising and original.

Well, all of that is my opinion on the matter, which means very little due to my narrow understanding of art. I think it's a pretty good idea, though.

 

[SkyeNeko]

art is a bang!! was the first thing that came to mind...

art is anything really. anything that positively stimulates the eyes or ears in particular.

 

[Lem0nade Inlay]

Something that is pretty.
Therefore I only thing paintings, sculptures etc. are art.

And not retarded modern paintings, but something that is just nice to look at.

 

[Link_to_Future]

Thanks a lot. Now this song is stuck in my head.


Back to our regularly scheduled programming:

Art is such a subjective matter. What I consider art almost certainly won't be considered art by others. That's one of the wonders of human taste.

Music is the greatest artistic expression in my personal opinion. Well crafted written language comes a very close second, mostly because it goes hand in hand with music for me. Visual mediums don't stimulate me as much simply because I have a harder time fully appreciating the nuance of it all. Video games and movies are great, but the ones I indulge myself in can hardly be considered art.

Whoever is below me will certainly have a totally different taste.

I love the variety of humanity.

 

[thiosk]

Put your balls on a flatbed scanner, max resolution. open it in photoshop, crop out a ~2 mm region (probably most of the screen).

Invert the color, set as wallpaper.

ART

 

[Danish rage]

The word art comes from the word artisan, which is basically another word for specialized worker.
So i guess almost anything created by human hand is art.
Personally I would like to think art is a way to understand society and it´s history.
Art is creation, any creation. Pretty art is something else though. It´s rare. And more specific i don´t think any videogame qulifies as pretty art, yet.

But by your logic video games ARE art, they are still creation and if they aren't that pretty.

yup. Am i missing something?

 

[IndianaJonny]

I don't necessarily agree with it, but I'm not an artist. Apparently, anything can be art.

Dadaism ftw!

Gentlemen (and women) I give you Duchamp's 'Fountain'

Considered to most influential piece of art in the 20th century.

It's a question of context, perception, place and space - do not try to pigeonhole 'Art', you will only frustrate yourself. Is it just as hard to say what Art is, as it is to say what Art is not.

 

[Eumersian]

Art is something that is designed to speak a certain feeling or emotion. But really it depends on the recipient. A person can listen to bebop, hate it to death, and call it not art. That's fine. But there are plenty of people that love the "artistic" feeling of bebop.

Also, it must be man-made.

 

[Togs]

to me? something thats aesthetically pleasing or exceptionally skillful.

But knowing a large number of arty people they tell me art can roughly defined as "something created with no purpose other then its own existence"

Personally I find art in the generic sense to be stiflingly pretentious and a tad ridiculous.

 

[Togs]

Put your balls on a flatbed scanner, max resolution. open it in photoshop, crop out a ~2 mm region (probably most of the screen).

Invert the color, set as wallpaper.

ART

Still laughing at this, you sir win the internet

 

[tzimize]

Art in the general sense is what I consider borderline madness. Its just stuff, often crazy stuff. Anything can be art.

Stuff that I personally consider art is anything that is for example among the best of its kind. Be it music, games, paintings...something that is created by someone through pure skill and imagination. To me real art might not be possible to create by anyone, because far from everyone is the best (more or less) at something.

It has to be fantastic...else it is not art. Imo. Random colors on a board is not art.

 

[ApeShapeDeity]

..."art"...

Bravo, sir! (Or ma'am) Well stated!

Moving on... Art is a broad concept with fuzzy edges, so it isn't helpful to get bogged down in semantics.

Essentially art is expression on a fundanental level. As such, creation is in itself is not really art. Just as talking by yourself is not really a conversation. This is why the idea is so hard to nail down. It encompasses areas of skill, aesthetics, intellect and culture to name but a few.

Personally, I think in the best art there is something of the sublime. There is a certain kind of stir it creates within the soul, that, by definition, lacks definition.

For further reading RE this post;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sublime_(philosophy)
http://www.wisdomportal.com/Cinema-Machine/Kant-Beautiful&Sublime.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aesthetics

 

[Thaius]

To my understanding,art is very vague,meaningless.
What I have observed from art and artists is that any and everything can and will be considered art.The problem here is that you create a field of study with no primary focus or motivation.The very definition of art basically states that art in itself is useless and will never serve anything but itself.This narrows down the subject to basically saying "existence and or action is art" a.k.a. art has no point and is only supported by itself.Art is so vague that it has no point existing.

Yeah, the idea that art is in and of itself a subjective thing is growing popularity. And as you said, it causes problems. Though I would like to point out that art is far from useless. Even is art is a fully subjective thing, it is absolutely vital to society and culture.

Some things simply are artistic. Maybe someone may not see the art of video games, or literature, or film, but it is there regardless. It takes skill and creativity to make, and simply is an art form. If we do not take an objectivist stance on this issue, we leave one of the most important aspects of civilization as a vague idea with no real form, thus something we cannot effectively study or understand. And that's a freakin' terrible idea.