What is art? Art is an outlet for the artists to express emotions that otherwise would have been held inside. Art is a method of depicting social injustices and making a call to right the wrongs that plague our society. Art is a form of using ones creativity to make something that can entertain or evoke emotion in others. In very simple terms, art is ambiguous. There are so many different ways to interpret what exactly the true meaning of art is.
For me, art is all of these things and more, you simply just can’t put a label on it. As alleyawharton (another Macaulay blogger)said, “…you know art when you see it.” This is a very true statement because people are so different from each other. We interpret things in a different manner and therefore feel and consider them differently. For example, one person may consider graffiti to be an act of vandalism on public property. However, someone else may consider this to be street art, the artist is using spray paint to create something meaningful.
Museums play a big role in determining what society is supposed to call art. It’s the social media of the art world. By going to museums people learn to look at things for certain similar qualities and are made to think just cause its in a museum it is art. I know because sometimes I look at museum paintings and can’t help but wonder what makes it so special? What is it about art that critics and artists alike feel so mystified by its beauty and hidden meaning?
I also feel that in a way museums influence public opinion as to what should be called art. That because those paintings and artifacts look a certain way, that it is to be considered true art, while things that are different are not. For example, Vincent van Gogh, an artist who lived in the 19th century and whose works are worldly known today. One can’t go through an art museum, or an art class without hearing his name mentioned. However, when he was alive, van Gogh’s paintings hardly sold. People didn’t like his artwork because it was so different from the impressionistic style of paintings popular in the 1800s.
The point I’m trying to make here (trust me, there is one) is that art can be whatever you want it to be. A photograph of a mother holding her child, a painting of sunflowers in a vase, even a painting of 32 Campbell’s soup cans can be art. The thing one should remember is to keep an open mind. Because in reality, art is all around us, we just need to take a moment and consider it.
