What is art?

[s_lone]

We use the word "art" many times in our daily lives, but yet, when you ask people what the word means, you get a wild variety of different answers. Artists themsleves do not always agree what is art and what is not...

These little questions can help us get the discussion going...

Is a commercial pop song art?

Does art have to be beautiful? (and what is beauty?)

Is a child's drawing art?

Does art necessarily need a human creator?

Is a picture from the Hubble telescope art?

 

[Gonzo]

As someone who studied animation and works as a cartoonist and illustrator, i think the word "art" has been cheapend by people without talent claiming to be artists. Like, say, rappers and modern artists.
A song is art if it makes you think and is new and different.
A childs drawing is not art unless it shows skill.
Does art need a human creator? Well, art is a human word.
A picture from the hubble telescope can be pretty, but it's not art.
To me I think art has to show talent and knowledge. Not blots of paint on a canvass, not a rap song about pimpin' yo *****s.
Why do they censor the word for prostitute on this site? I didn't know it was a bad word.

 

[s_lone]

As someone who studied animation and works as a cartoonist and illustrator, i think the word "art" has been cheapend by people without talent claiming to be artists. Like, say, rappers and modern artists.
A song is art if it makes you think and is new and different.
A childs drawing is not art unless it shows skill.
Does art need a human creator? Well, art is a human word.
A picture from the hubble telescope can be pretty, but it's not art.
To me I think art has to show talent and knowledge. Not blots of paint on a canvass, not a rap song about pimpin' yo *****s.
Why do they censor the word for prostitute on this site? I didn't know it was a bad word.

I can relate to you in some way. I studied musical composition at university and was very sickened by the snobbish "we do art" thing... It's very easy to hide a lack of skill and talent behind modern artistic trends and techniques. On the other hand, it's also very easy to dismiss "modern" art because you don't understand it...

 

[TenPenny]

As someone who studied animation and works as a cartoonist and illustrator, i think the word "art" has been cheapend by people without talent claiming to be artists. Like, say, rappers and modern artists.
A song is art if it makes you think and is new and different.
A childs drawing is not art unless it shows skill.
Does art need a human creator? Well, art is a human word.
A picture from the hubble telescope can be pretty, but it's not art.
To me I think art has to show talent and knowledge. Not blots of paint on a canvass, not a rap song about pimpin' yo *****s.
Why do they censor the word for prostitute on this site? I didn't know it was a bad word.

If a picture from the Hubble Telescope is not art, then no photography could be art, could it? A picture from the Hubble is actually an image that is more highly manipulated than most standard photography, and takes an intense amount of skill and knowledge to produce.

Art has to show talent and knowledge. Who will define this talent? What level of talent is required? Who are the arbiters of what is talent and therefore art?

 

[selfactivated]

My Soulmate is an artest. Id show you the painting he created for me but its sa bit private. He's a fabulous portrait artist. He creates the most beautul paintings and he, in my opinion is a great artist. But he has had a stroke and cant move. If he could do a squiggle right this very second I would call THAT art.

Art is in the eyes of the beholder.

 

[tamarin]

Art is like a great apple pie. You know it when you encounter it. Lots of folks can bake a pie but to create a great one is the sign of a master.
That's the problem with much of modern art. It doesn't engage and it's easily mimicked. Some very embarrassing moments have happened in that field. Deep pocketed collectors have been assembled and then completely bamboozled when shown a gallery of modern art, some put out by supposed 'artists' and others completed in twenty minutes by various mischievous dabblers. The well established collectors were flummoxed; they couldn't tell the difference. 'Art' shouldn't be so easily embarrassed.
It's like the wine knobs. Over and over again, they've been shown to be unable to tell the difference between a cheap imitator and a high end glass of snob juice.

 

[POLEMICAL DIPLOMAT]

Art is an expression of self. Not literally perhaps, but art is an expression of a thought, an idea, or a feeling, or all these things combined.

 

[Gonzo]

Most people hated the Voice Of Fire, a painting of three stripes that the National Gallery bought for a million dollars. Is it art when everyone hates it? I studied perspective, proportion, light, shadows, motion, the human anatomy, and practiced very hard for years to be able to draw or paint whats in my head. It gets me angry when after all that, someone sells a painting that looks like a flag to our National Gallery for so much money. When you look at it, are you supposed to think, "gee, I wonder what kind of roller he used to make those stripes"? What kind of technique is that?

 

[selfactivated]

Look at Piccasso! I abhore his work but he's hanging in my local art museum in the next section from REAL artests Monet and Degas! I can spend the WHOLE day looking at those two I feel so alive looking at the Ballerinas and the Seine (is that right?) On one wall in my house I have Monet on the other......Degas and under the rainbow I painted is my friends painting of two Faes kissing their first kiss On a forth is sailboats and the little boy from Brussels (it reminded me of Critter peeing on my Moms wall LOL ) Hanging from my ceilings are Dream Catchers and sage, I Created one thats 2 feet wide and my drums and rattles ALL hand painted and hand created. Does that make ME an artist? LOL not according to my Friend LOL

 

[Curiosity]

Most people hated the Voice Of Fire, a painting of three stripes that the National Gallery bought for a million dollars. Is it art when everyone hates it? I studied perspective, proportion, light, shadows, motion, the human anatomy, and practiced very hard for years to be able to draw or paint whats in my head. It gets me angry when after all that, someone sells a painting that looks like a flag to our National Gallery for so much money. When you look at it, are you supposed to think, "gee, I wonder what kind of roller he used to make those stripes"? What kind of technique is that?

Gonzo Had to go look - Ottawa paid 1.8 million for this "awning" ?? It was also done by an American artist which doesn't make sense to me....

What a joke when there are so many people struggling to be recognized. What was the point of this
particular "art" being so endowed by the Gallery???

Art cannot be defined - because it is so personal - an artist's portrayal of visual imagery (if we are talking about painting), how others see it and how they are moved by it.

Art takes courage however to lay one's soul out there to the public..... gotta have great courage!

 

[Gonzo]

It also bugs me that they dont have any Robert Bateman paintings in the galley. People come from all over the world to see his paintings and the gallery doesn't have him because his paintings look to real. Robert Bateman is one of Canadas greatest artist and he's not in our national gallery.

 

[smilingfish]

I don't know what art is. But when I saw a huge pile of garbage( yes, garbage! dolls, lamps, calculators, bags, shoes, hats, everything that was used and raggedy!) presented, well, dumped casually in fact, in an art exhibition, I definitely didn't think it had anything to do with art!
Some of the modern art stuff is just crazy.
I'm glad I didn't pay the ticket. My boss paid.

 

[Sassylassie]

Gonzo Had to go look - Ottawa paid 1.8 million for this "awning" ?? It was also done by an American artist which doesn't make sense to me....

What a joke when there are so many people struggling to be recognized. What was the point of this
particular "art" being so endowed by the Gallery???

Art cannot be defined - because it is so personal - an artist's portrayal of visual imagery (if we are talking about painting), how others see it and how they are moved by it.

Art takes courage however to lay one's soul out there to the public..... gotta have great courage!

LOL it does look like an awning doesn't it, or the new Roots outdoor furniture collection perhaps this piece of choke art was the insperation for their out door line. Choke. What gets my neck hairs up are those that poop or you know what on a canvas and call it art and the art world goes gaga over their body fluids being on display. It's insane, or is it? So perhaps my dog "Harley" could display some of his finer works or fecal material in a gallery in Ontario. He thinks he's gifted and it would make a nice change from having to pick it up with a bag. I could just mount it on canvas, gag.

 

[selfactivated]

I kinda thought it looked like a medal

 

[gopher]

Art is in the eyes of the beholder.


That says it all!

 

[Dalreg]

Art is in the eyes of the beholder.


That says it all!

Art is beauty in the eyes of the beholder. Art is always beautiful. Never ugly.

 

[s_lone]

It also bugs me that they dont have any Robert Bateman paintings in the galley. People come from all over the world to see his paintings and the gallery doesn't have him because his paintings look to real. Robert Bateman is one of Canadas greatest artist and he's not in our national gallery.

Holy moly this guy is amazing... At least with art like this you KNOW the guy has talent. Some of his paintings look like pictures it's unbelievable...

 

[tamarin]

Art's uncommon. Few have the ability to create it. Lots of poseurs out there and, my, they are good at scrambling on the public teat. We all need to be more demanding of art and critical of those who defend its corruption.
Same thing in poetry. Gosh, Canada is swarmed by terrible poets and yet if you read reviews of recent work in key papers you might think we're in the middle of a renaissance. We're not. We have a lot of people writing and publishing that are A list awful.

 

[gopher]

it reminded me of Critter peeing on my Moms wall LOL


You just reminded me of a story that happened a long time ago re the following by New York artist Richard Serra:

Tilted Arc was placed in the middle of the Plaza at 26 Federal Plaza at Chambers Street near downtown Manhattan. I used to pass by it to go to China Town to eat in its restaurants. New Yorkers absolutely HATED that work of art!

A co-worker of mine hated it so much that he spat on it. Another time, we were walking past it when another critic had his doggie piss on it!

People fail to realize however, that this is the type of reaction Mr Serra always wanted (I did not know him but knew some folks who did so). As an art modernist he wants you to take charge over your environment. He does not want you to succumb to the type of passivity and uniformity that characterizes modern art and contemporary life.

Look at some of those old buildings in Manhattan -- each is unique and has much character to distinguish them from other buildings. But look at the buildings of the 70s and 80s -- all you see is sameness, sameness, sameness. Uniformity, conformity, passivity, and endless sameness! An artist wants you to think for yourself; to be creative; to express yourself and to rid yourself of uniformity and passivity. Thus, that "wall" was deliberately intended as a means of expression for those who would passed by the 'obstruction' and take steps to criticize it, condemn it, and eventually knock it down -- which they did! Eventually, people demanded that it be removed and that is precisely what happened. Unknowingly, they overcame their passivity and took creative steps to beautify their work environs -- precisely what Mr Serra wanted!

That's the true beauty of art -- it is a living thing designed to breathe life into your all-too-often passive lifestyles. It compels you to think, to create, to take action, and to constructively enhance your life.

ART IS LIFE!

 

[L Gilbert]

Is a commercial pop song art? It can be

Does art have to be beautiful? (and what is beauty?) Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Is a child's drawing art? If the child is expressing something rather than just copying something.

Does art necessarily need a human creator? I don't think so.

Is a picture from the Hubble telescope art? Ansell Adams pics are art. Hubble telescopes pics can only be artistic.

I think art is simply expression of emotion, state of being, etc. especially if it provokes an emotion(s) in others.

That's me in blue.