What is Art?

© Cathrene Gehue, 2008.

After dabbling in drawing, pencil crayon, water colour and acrylic painting, and some sculpture, answering the question What is art? still seems impossible.

The definitions are endless. I won’t even bother to go into them here or create yet another to add to the ongoing debate, discussion, or argument. Instead, what follows are some thoughts, musings and observations on the nature of art.

It’s a communication. It is an artist expressing their response to something either in the outer world or their inner world, or perhaps a bit of both, to a viewer through a medium.

In that communication exists the intent to make sense of or give pattern to a seemingly random or chaotic inner/outer world.

And the pattern found is a depiction frozen in time. Like a snapshot.

This is intent… always. Intent to express an idea, a mood, a story, an emotion, a social or political comment, or simply to leave an identifying mark. Even in the most abstract pieces, there is the intent to bring into existence the unrecognizable form of something new or the new impression of something that has existed since the dawn of mankind.

Art may or may not resonate within the viewer, depending on what the viewer values. An artist may bask in the warmth of the soothing colour red, while the viewer takes comfort in blue and sizzles with excitement in red. For that reason, art must always resonate within the artist. They must do what they enjoy making.

Art forms and ideas about art are always changing, so that any of the above statements may or may not be true at any given time.

Everyone thinks they know what art is, yet nobody can seem to agree on it entirely.

Despite all of the above, it is here to stay.