Art is What?
What is Art? Where does creativity come from? What is beauty? Such difficult questions. These questions have been debated for centuries. Everyone wants to weigh in on the activity of Art but it is very difficult to define Art. In my own mind, I believe that Art is a function of expression and a representation of beauty. The great literary artist Leo Tolstoy was a well-known proponent of the expression theory. He supposed that an artist feels an emotion; then after recreating the feeling or emotion in himself, he attempts to create a work that conveys that emotion or feeling to others who are observing the work. If the feeling is not conveyed or transferred then the artwork fails. Looking at Art from this perspective seems to reduce Art to merely a means of communication. This perspective is limited and narrow in scope, but it is also much too all encompassing. The main argument against this theory is that it would include things not traditionally regarded as art, and excludes things that have been considered great works of art for centuries.
Surely Art IS a means of communication, but Art communicates something deeper than just feelings. It conveys, without words, comprehension of the artist’s state of mind. His inner state of being is revealed through the artwork. This, I believe, is the true aim of Art. It must be intentional. It is an intentional act designed to transfer emotional content and to elicit a emotional response from the observer.
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