Where is art?
One might say that art can be found in a museum, such as the MOMA, where I saw pieces by Van Gogh, Monet, Dali, and Magritte. Another might say an opera house, maybe like Metropolitan Opera, where I saw Don Giovanni.
There is no correct answer. Yes, art can be found in a museum, an opera house, a movie theater, or a concert, but at the same time, art can be found everywhere.
“But not everything is art!” someone might protest.
I disagree. Personally, I love going to museums. Where else can you find the most art, right? I’ve been to the Met more times than I can count, but that’s probably because my AP Euro teacher made me a nut about Dadaist and Fauvist art; they’re really funk, pleasing to look at (toilets are art, according to Dadaism). Aside from museums, I don’t see much “typical” art (ie. concerts, movies, musicals, etc) but I am a strong believer that everything you see is art. Or at least, everything you see has the potential to be art.
I see art in graffiti, in food packaging, in clothing pieces, in architecture, in every moment possible. Most times, there’s a thought process before churning out a product, like a painting or a building. Sometimes, it happens by accident. When you hold a cup of coffee from some obscure coffeeshop, there’s a logo on it, probably minimalist. It may not seem like much, but a process was there. Someone sat there and came up with that art.
Maybe I just have the concept of art and aesthetic mixed up but I believe they go hand in hand. Aesthetic is the appreciation of all things beautiful, or finding beauty in something, everything, and I believe that everything in life, whether it was by chance or it was intentional, is art. It just takes a certain eye to see it.
(All photos are mine!)
elainepun
September 4, 2017 — 7:34 pm
This is one of the most interesting questions. It seems simple but is this a question any of us think of during our down-time? I do have a question though – if someone finds a piece of work aesthetic but another person doesn’t, is it still art then or does the second person have to take into consideration other people may find it aesthetic and call it “art”? Love the pictures as examples as well!
vickilau
September 4, 2017 — 7:46 pm
I’d go with the latter option.
I’m going to use Picasso as an example. Some people would jump to say, well of course, it’s a PICASSO, because they consider him a great artist.
However, there is controversy because some people don’t get Picasso’s work and/or find it ugly and also question “Why does it look like that?” and “Why does it have so many eyes?” etcetc. They might not think Picasso is their cup of tea (their definition of art) but it doesn’t invalidate other people’s opinion of it (that it /is/ art).