Art has been a part of our life for as long as humanity has existed. Humans have been fond of art since centuries. For thousands of years people have been creating, depicting, looking at, criticizing, and enjoying art.
Art is an extremely ambiguous subject. There are so many ways to define it. Many people believe art to only exist in paintings or drawings. However, Art is of a much broader scope. Art can include visual arts, such as painting and drawing, it can also include music, with the voice or an instrument. Moreover there are sculptures, architectural art, computer art, literature, etc. which are vast enough individually in the field of art.
A Myriad of Definitions
Art is simply never-ending in its definition. For example, constructing furniture could be an art because people took time to contemplate about shape or design of a piece of furniture. They had to use their imagination to craft an object noteworthy enough for people to appreciate. That is one thing that might be considered art even though not many individuals think of art in that way. In my opinion, I think art comes from a person’s ideas, feelings and imagination.
Art is typically a work done by one or even several people. Art does not require masterly skills. A 5-year old child’s painting of a rainbow can also be considered as an art. Art can be images that are pretty, ugly, good, bad, small or big. When a person performs art, such as a painting or a sculpture, their piece of beautiful art is created solely by their imagination. Sometimes, it is one’s feelings that he/she can’t express verbally or physically therefore they express it on a paper or in form of a sculpture. Other times, people just create art pieces or sketches for fun and enjoyment. One may also create an art piece that symbolizes something. Stories can also be depicted from art. For example, many Paleolithic art cave paintings are said to depict stories.
But the concern is how do we distinguish between fine art and a lovely poster? How can we call both Da Vinci’s “La Joconde” and Malevich’s “Black Square” art, yet not include some people’s paintings into this category? I believe that only things that can differentiate these works are the artist and the artist’s objective. The connection between what the artist means to achieve through his art and what he achieves through the medium is what classifies ART. If what the artist meant to say is understood by at least one intellect in this world, then we can safely call that piece an art. When a majority of people understand what the artist was trying to say, then it classifies as a masterpiece.
Boundless Ways of Expressing Art
Many people believe that the fine arts are elitist. Nonetheless, art is not something that you have to study to understand and enjoy. Art is something that captures one’s eye. When the artist is trying to communicate his emotions, ideas or something else with the world, the most important thing is how well the audience receives it. However, art can also be appalling, shocking, outrageous or something new. If a creative piece by an artist can instigate a discussion of whether that piece is art or not, then too it is art. Art is rather something that inspires people, something that conveyances us into different realities and moves us into the subconscious spaces that we did not know existed.
The world of literature can be a form of art. Beginning from hieroglyphics, on through epic poetry and plays, short stories, and finally now to novels and modern poetry. Today’s main depiction of literature is from a novel. Science fiction, biographies, horror, romance are just some categories, that can be split up into little subcategories of their own. And of course, one cannot overlook the splendid beauties of nature. Such examples include the sound of the ocean, the shades of leaves in the autumn, or the rainbow of colors during a sunset.
The simple beauty of nature has inspired many artists over the centuries to make great paintings, writings and musical compositions. New types of art have evolved over in modern times. A great example is the comic book. This combination of words and pictures is one of today’s most cutting edge art forms. Another trending form of art is the computer art. This comprises a very wide span of techniques, such as advertising design, multimedia design, or simply fine art made on the computer. Things can now be accomplished on computers that could have been quite impossible before. Photo manipulation, computer animation, and interactive multimedia programs are to name a few.
In the coming ages, art will continue to evolve along with the human race and the many developments that we observe every year. An alternative way to describe an art might be a human’s way of enunciating their world. Therefore, as the world around us changes, so will our art.
-Poonam Yadav
