I’ve been obsessing about this question. I’m not sure what kicked it off, but it’s been rumbling around in my brain for days now. If you’d asked me 35 years ago, I’d have said “Whatever they’ve got in the Art Institute. And, you know, places like that.”
Now… oh, it’s a whole different story now! First of all, what I think is art may not be what you think is art and that’s perfectly fine. For me, art is anything someone has created that I find pleasing. It could please any (or all) of my senses, and could encompass anything from a 1969 Corvette to Pinoy Invasion’s Chicken Adobo, and a hundred thousand things in between. (Not that I’ve actually eaten PI’s chicken adobo… but I’ve had my co-workers’ chicken adobo, and that is some fiercely fine food. Almost makes me consider not being a vegetarian for a few minutes. It definitely makes me hungry every time I go to that site.)
When people think art, mostly (it seems) they think visual art. But literature is art. And music is art. Architecture and interior design are art. Dance is art. The Japanese tea ceremony is art. Dressmaking, knitting and crocheting are all art. Plays and movies are art. There’s an art to computer programming, though it’s considered by most to be a science. Heck, in Kelly’s world, even graffiti is art! And yes, some art is crap. To someone else.
So here’s a question for you… what would you consider to be art that other people might not? Or, conversely, what makes you scratch your head in bemusement when other people call it art?
I have heard that the first works of art were Architecture!
You sure got me thinking…
When I started reading your post, I referted to my most recent thought ‘it has to make me think’ yet not all things I would call art do that.
Maybe, it has to do with ‘it moves me’ and that could be in any direction whatsoever.
Maybe it does make me think. Perhaps it is repulsive. I can look at a great building and feel that ‘moved’ feeling…
I can look at the houses on my street and not feel moved, so maybe they aren’t ‘art’ after all. Yet, they may have been once.
OK, I don’t know now.
Glad you got me thinking – is your post ‘art’ then too???
🙂
Pam Hoffman
http://seminarlist.blogspot.com
It’s certainly a pretty controversial question to some. I’m like you and try to define it pretty broadly. I’ve always considered art as creative self-expression in all its forms. The transmission across generations of cultural traditions is also part of it, and I think that was probably the origin of art … going back to cave painting and oral story telling. We’ve tended to stray from such communal forms, however, as our society has over-emphasized individual expression.
The Mountains at Sunrise that safely arrived through my letterbox today is art.
My wife doesn’t think so “I could do that” she says.
“Why don’t you?” I replied
“It’s just stripes” was her retort.
I shook my head, unable to explain why I considered the painting in front of us to be art. Unable to describe it’s merit beyond simply stating.. “I like it”
What else is there?
Pam… LOL! I’ve never thought of my blathering as art, though I might consider some of my short stories in the category. But if it’s art for you… then art it is.
Franscud… I enjoy getting involved in community art, though it’s more internet-based than the more local cave painting kind of thing. Hmmmm. I have some examples on the ol’ hard drive here… stay tuned for a future blog post!
TAM… First, I’m delighted that Mountains at Sunrise arrived safe and sound. Second, you wife is right. She probably could create something similar given the same tools. But — as I’ve been reminded on numerous occasions — abstract art is definitely not everyone’s cup of tea. They don’t “get it.” I’m not sure what’s to “get,” but there are plenty of artists out there who can give them their fill of flowers and bunnies and barns and… well, all those things that I can’t draw. Yet.
“I shall not today attempt further to define the kinds of material I understand to be embraced within that shorthand description; and perhaps I could never succeed in intelligibly doing so. But I know it when I see it.â€
No wait, that’s a quote referring to obscenity. It’s strange how that quote can apply to art, also. “I know it when I see it.†🙂
Speaking of art, my “Flare†arrived safely this week. It speaks to me just as loudly in person as on the screen. Now to figure out where to hang it.
Haley… some of that stuff that certain people think is obscene is really outstanding art (IMNSHO).
I’m glad Flare arrived! I’ve been having “issues” with the USPS this week, and it’s good to know they managed to deliver to you. Of course, I’m sure it helps that you’re not in rural Oklahoma. LOL
“I wholeheartedly agree!” I say aloud, as I sit down to resume writing my erotica novella tonight. 🙂
Art, for me, is anything that makes me FEEL something. I see pieces of “art” that are suppose to be wonderful but do not move me at all, and then sometimes I’ll run across something on Flickr that will stick in my mind for days.
Art is certainly subjective, but it is hard to deny that something made with love and passion is not art.
I pondered this same question years ago with some co-workers. One answer really stuck with me – art is anything that makes you pause and say, “hmmm”. Art gets people talking.
For me, it’s the pausing. That’s key.
Thanks for the food for thought this morning.
melly~… yep, pausing. That’s a good way to put it. Whether it’s “hmmmm” or “WOW” or “Ack!”, it’s all about the pause. 🙂