I began walking everywhere. Looking furiously to locate an example of art. Creating a definition for the word “art” is incredibly complex. Something I consider beautiful and breath-taking may be viewed as mediocre or ordinary to someone else. As I walked around the streets of Manhattan, I found myself overwhelmed with the millions of examples of art surrounding me. I had no idea which one to choose, or rather, which one I thought would be considered art from everyone’s point of view.
Lamp Post Covered in Posters (Not Art)
I stopped myself in front of a lamp post covered with miscellaneous posters, advertisements, stickers, and tape. I thought of all the people that pasted their poster on that lamp post, and what their intentions were. Their intentions were not to create a beautiful work of art, nor to take someone’s breath away. This lamp post covered with ripped papers and old flyers was not created to be appreciated. If one artist had organized a collage of posters on a lamp post to signify something, I believe that it would be considered a work of art. But there was no organization or purpose on this lamp post, thus it would not be considered a work of art according to the definition I was trying to compose.
I continued to walk up and down the streets, stopping every 10 feet to contemplate if something would be considered art in my eyes. As I turned the corner, I was engulfed into this giant mural, stretching along an entire sidewalk. Now this for sure was art to me. It made me stop in my tracks, and take a step back. I wanted to spend hours observing and appreciating this beautiful masterpiece.
Mural Painted on a Wall (Art)
But what exactly made it art to me? Although there were many similarities when I compared the mural and the lamp post, like the complete sense of chaos, there were distinct differences that defined the mural as art. While the lamp post had no organization or reason to it, the mural was painted by an artist to express his own chaos to the world. There is a sense of organized and intended chaos. The mural tells a story, one that the observer is able to create. I was in awe, from the artist’s talent and shear size of the work itself.
After locating two things I believed were and were not art, it was easier for me to define art for myself. I thought about all of the artists that are not appreciated, and whether or not their work is still considered art. I looked up to an old garage, covered in graffiti, as most surfaces in New York City are. I thought about each individual person that wrote on this garage, and their intentions.
Graffiti on a Garage (Maybe Art)
I could walk by fifty garages identical to this in a day, and I probably would not acknowledge the “artwork” that covered it. This could very well be considered art to the person that drew it, but I doubt that it would be appreciated by many other passersby. We do not know if the artist had any intention behind this writing. Graffiti artists, like Banksy, create beautiful, meaningful pieces of art through this form of vandalism, but this form of graffiti may or may not be considered art, depending on who you ask.
After exploring Manhattan and appreciating all of the different types of art that the city holds, I came to multiple conclusions about the categorization of art. Every piece of art has intention. Every artist that creates a piece of art has a reason behind it, an emotion or story they want to express to the world. Art is meant to change your perspective, and it should always be appreciated, even if you disagree with the message behind it. With this in mind, art is also incredibly subjective; there is no right or wrong answer for your own personal definition of art. Without art, there would be no communication of ideas or expression of self. Without art, life is dull, and I will always appreciate the light it gives us.
Lile Ruggiero
This has been mentioned a couple of times in your comments, but I would like to reinforce the fact that your layout for the blog post was awesome. I tried clicking a bunch of buttons on my post to make it look something like this, but I did not succeed. As for your pictures, the picture of the lamp post, I am totally on board with. I think everyone who put things up on that lamp post had some sort of beneficial intention for themselves, whether it being a yard sale or a business advertisement. Nothing on that post was meant to evoke some sort of positive, enlightening emotion from a viewer. As for graffiti in your second picture, it is very subjective. I personally would not view the picture as art at all but graffiti has been used for centuries to share powerful messages. Just because it might not seem like art to you and I, does not mean we should totally rule graffiti out as being considered art.
I really liked the formatting of the blog and the organization of your photos as it made it easier to navigate. I definitely agree with your assessment of the mural, because one of the ways an individual should be able to classify art is by its beauty, and usually that realization is instantaneous. I also agree that the photo of graffiti on the garage is highly subjective regarding whether or not it is art, since graffiti art is usually extravagant and easily noticeable and often times very beautiful, as opposed to this form of graffiti which seems too abstract to easily qualify as art.
Lile, I really appreciate the depth of thought you put into what you wrote and the things you photographed. I love that you chose graffiti as a large focus of this assignment. I agree with your feelings about the large mural wall that you encountered. I think that anyone who sees it can appreciate the intricacies of the time, effort and clear artistic talent it required to create this masterpiece. I love graffiti walls myself and to me, any tag is a piece of art. My father’s best friend’s son had a talent in the arts when he was a child and he grew up to become a graffiti artist, finally now trademarking his tags and actually selling some of the graffiti art he had once made on the streets of Queens. (*He was recently commissioned by Rag & Bone to do a mural outside of their Soho shop, haha*) I think that as a young artist, before his name became world-renowned, this young graffiti artist saw his tags and his simple signatures on dirty gray gates as art, as his own creation. I have the same appreciation for most of the tags I see today because I know that behind each tag and each piece of graffiti is another artist displaying something unique to themselves and trying to just make their tiny mark on the world.
Amazing post, again. Your thoughts on art are insightful. And you are absolutely right (in my opinion). There is never any right or wrong answer when it comes to art 🙂
Lile,
Firstly, you blog formatting is a work of art. Great job titling the pictures and describing the discrepancy between art, maybe art and not art. I totally agree that I do not think the graffiti is the slightest bit of art but the creator may beg to differ having a fair argument for it being art. I agree with you that the disorganization and purposeless arrangement of posters on the pole would consider the picture not a work of art.
Great work,
Andrew Langer