I still remember my first class of art, design and aesthetics. My faculty had asked everyone what art means to us along with our introduction. People said various answers, some as vague as "art is everything", some as generic as "anything related to creativity is art" and some including me said "art is something that helps us escape from our dreaded reality." She argued with some of us, but later she gave us an assignment to study books for definitions of art.
Here are some of the definitions I found back then and the questions the definitions raised in my mind -
According to Britannica Encyclopedia,
Art is the use of skill and imagination in the creation of aesthetic objects, environments or experiences that can be shared with others.
The term art may also designate to one of a number of modes of expression conventionally categorized by the medium utilized or by the form of the product; thus we speak of paintings, sculptures, film-making, music, dance, literature and many other modes of aesthetic experience as arts and all of them collectively as arts.
The above explanation also raises questions like - What aesthetic are we talking about? What is aesthetic? Are the various fields mentioned above art forms or art? If they are art forms what are art forms?
According to Dani Cavallaro,
There is no universal definition of 'art'. Art is not easily described by the materials it uses or by what is done to those materials.
According to me definition does not lead us to any fruitful answers. It still leaves us wondering what art is?
According to H.W. Janson,
Art is first of all a word - one that acknowledges idea and fact of art. Art is an aesthetic object. It is meant to be looked at and appreciated for its intrinsic value. It's special qualities set art apart, so that it is often placed away from everyday life - like museums, churches, caves etc.
From this definition the questions i found asking myself were- Is art not considered art if someone is not looking at it? Would a doodle in a student diary not be considered art because it is not being looked at? What intrinsic values is the definition referring to? Also why is art placed away from everyday life? Isn't art supposed to be a part of everyday life? Why do we "mystify" art?
According to Malcolm Bernard,
The first definition of art and design to be considered is that art and design are conscious performance or exhibition, the product of some conscious planning process. This definition has the benefit of including all that would normally be called art.
According to me this is a very safe definition of art, because art does takes effort, interest and conscious performance, most of the times skills along with practice as well. If we talk about paintings or sculptures or dance or film - all of these forms of art does require a conscious planning.
According to Dan Flanin,
Art is "I believe art is shedding its wanted mystery for a common sense of keenly realized decoration".
In the above definition, artist Dan Flanin talks about keenly realized decoration. What is this keenly realized decoration that he is talking about? Are all art supposed to be decorative? Won't those arts be considered as arts which are not decorative? What is the decoration that he is talking about?
According to Rabindranath Tagore,
Art is the response of man's creative soul to the call of the real.
According to me this is a brilliant definition of art. Why? I have treated art as an escape route all my life. As a child, coloring and drawing used to be very relaxing. No matter what you are going through, art helped. Art always rescued me.
Art is often considered as an expression born out of the vivid imagination of the human being, that is why to a fair point it does serve as a response of the creative soul to the call of the real.
According to Merriam Webster Dictionary,
Art is something that is created from imagination and skill and that is beautiful or that expresses important ideas or feelings : works created by artists : paintings, sculptures etc.
What is beauty? Are all arts that ain't beautiful not considered art? Who gets to decide whether a piece of art is beautiful or not? If an artwork does not expresses ideas would it not be considered art? What about abstract art??
According to Oxford Dictionary,
Art is the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as paintings or sculptures, producing work to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power.
What is creativity? What is imagination? Are the works that are not appreciated not considered as art? And whose appreciation are we talking about?
After reading all these, and all these questions in our head we went to the class the next day. We had some idea of how humans perceive art by these definitions but our thinking broadened a little after what the conclusion of that class was.
The conclusion was -
Art is an act of expressing feelings, thoughts and observations. It encompasses a diverse range of human activities, creations and modes of expression, including music literature, film, photography, sculpture and paintings.
Generally art is made with the intention of stimulating thoughts and emotions. It is something which has gaps or scope for the viewer to comprehend and look beyond of what is in front of our eyes.
Art is like a mirror - used to recreate, represent and communicate. Art depends on form, context and content. Art is supposed to evoke a certain feeling in the minds of its viewer - doesn't matter good or bad or weird or calm. Art helps the artist to express his thoughts. Art is the bigger umbrella under which more technical terms like design , photography and others fit in.
Of course, over the years my opinion towards art can vary. Art is very subjective - just like everything else and what is art is a never ending debate. It leads to a lot of more questions that we don't really get the time to ask ourselves.
I welcome you all; to my journey of studying art movements, history of art and works of various artists. So as to get answers to the questions I raised above, get inspired for my design projects and form a more clearer perspective on the subject.
Written by - Jasleen Ashta
Comentarios