Some say art is subjective. Art is whatever a person decide it is.
There is art in poetry; in the written word; in the use and construction and phrasing of words. There is art in novel writing; in short story writing; in play writing; in screen plays. There is art visual form; in movement; in music; in dance; in theatre; in film. There is art in drawing; in painting; in sculpture; in photography; in architecture. There is art in speech; in spoken dialogue; in delivery of words; in communication. There is art in sports; in boxing; in athletics; in cricket; in football; in rugby.
Art is traditionally divided into seven forms: Music, Sculpture, Painting, Literature, Architecture, Performing and Film. But who made that declaration in the first place? Who decided that subdivision is correct or pertinent or relevant or accurate? Does Aboriginal, Native American, Masai, Zulu, Pygmy, Amazonian, art fall into that subdivision. And if not, then why not? Does it have to meet European, Western, approved, classifications and standards. Or is art supposed to represent the imagination, the belief systems, the skills, the history, the culture of the person or peoples who created it?
Its reasonable to say that art means different things to different people and it comes in many forms.
In painting and drawing, art can be visual, representative, abstract, communicative, photo realistic, ugly or beautiful. It can be simple or complicated. It can be colourful or bland. It can be large or small. It can be done on walls, on canvas, on paper, on buildings, on subway trains. It can be called mural, decorative, plain, cartoonish, heavy, light, striking. It can be done with pencil, charcoal, crayons, chalk, ink, acrylic, water colour, oil and even spray cans.
Each country, each continent, each civilisation, has created art for thousands of years. We have art given by the name of the country or that of the land that produced it. We have Egyptian art, Grecian art, Roman art, European art, Asian art, African art. We have different styles of art that is recognised by the civilisation and the people who created it.
In Western art galleries and museums, European art is very dominant. European artistes are venerated in the Western media. Picasso, Monet, Degas, Rembrandt, Chagall, Matisse, Van Gogh, Sutherland, Moore, Turner, Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Hockney, Lowry and many others, too numerous to mention, are lauded as some of the “Greatest artists of all time”. Perhaps it is understandable that each continent should wish to venerate their own accomplishments where art is concerned. But who decides what is great art and who is a great artist? Western Museums also hold art “treasures” from many different continents. Many of those treasures are often requested to be returned to the countries from where they were “appropriated”. Possession is often cited as ownership, by law. But is that a legal truth. And whose law is that supposed to represent. Do former empires or countries have the claim to art that is not theirs by right?
Art can be peaceful. Art can be controversial. Art can be disruptive. Art can be confrontational. Art can be political. Art can be revolutionary. But can art be even more than all of this?
Art is often called the expression of the soul. Artificial Intelligence apparently, has no soul. Therefore, what about AI generated art? Is that truly art? That is also to assume that the soul is a thing that exists? If it does, it means that art can be religious too. Or even spiritual, perhaps.
So the question remains. What is art? What do we mean by art? What defines art?
