What Is Art?
December 15, 2009
A Road Less Traveled by Robert J. Simone oil-linen 14x11
With squinted eyes we study our subject, comparing shadow to shadow, light to light. We use a visual vocabulary and time passes, virtually unnoticed, as we put brush to canvas, expressing emotion through the constructs of thought and reason. We live in the world of shapes, values, colors and edges. We build form with the raw material of it’s constituent parts. Our vision gives birth to a new reality in paint. We call it art!
But what is Art? The painter is required to find good answers to difficult questions. How many of us have a good answer for that one? It’s worth some thought, especially if we plan to continue the journey from painter to artist.
Not long ago I posed the question to a group of students. Their quick, unanimous reply surprised me, “Art is anything we say it is”. “Then a crucifix in a bowl of urine really is art”, I wondered aloud. Can the definition of art be completely relative? If so, the logical conclusion is that snail trails on the sidewalk might be art. Relative thought leads to exhibitions which include garish color, poor drawing and confused perspectives. It’s thick, lavish, expenditures of paint, straight from the tube, no mixing involved. It’s gallery wrap painted on the sides and mixed media with giant over-sized anything with flames. It’s painted collages of blue feet with wings. Refinement? What’s that? Who care’s? It’s all relative. It’s a free country. Many purveyors, collectors and lovers of visual expression think this way. It is their right. What if some of us dare to be different? Well, that’s OUR right!
How about the modernist credo, “Art is what I do”. Does that definition make sense? Only if the adherent is indeed an artist. What if our slimey snail friend could speak and he said, “Art is what I do”? Then snail trails would be art! I can’t live with that. Besides, I have seen art that I did NOT do. If art is also what others do then there must be more to it’s definition.
The Modernist movement, according to Thomas Wolfe, author of The Painted Word, featured paintings and sculptures exhibited alongside placards written to explain what the thing was or what it’s creator intended. Forty years earlier, landscape artist John F. Carlson wrote, “In good art, the results do not have to be explained. As a matter of fact , there is but one kind of art and that is good art. There is no comfortable halfway station; it is either fine, or it is not art.”
What adjectives, then, when applied to visual expression raise it to the category of fine art? How about a list of potentials? Fine Art is:
- tasteful
- beautiful
- dignified
- interesting
- intelligent
- simple
- complex
- expressive
- inviting
- soulful
- decorative
- valuable
Fine Art is also how we respond to it. It is:
- felt
- enjoyed
- contemplated
- understood
- purchased
The lists are by no means exhaustive. No doubt you will want to add to them. I hope you do. The more we expand them, the more we realize, this is a deep well. These adjectives describe a whole. That’s another attribute of art. It is whole. It is not it’s parts. Carlson said, “Art is the expressive putting together of parts into a beautiful whole…” This makes sense considering that a whole is an idea supported by the harmony of it’s subordinate parts.
Still, no definition of Art could be complete without mentioning what art does. What does art do? Again, I defer to the voice of John F. Carlson who said, “A work of art possesses a calm dignity that waits quietly to enthrall the eye and soul. It does not scream out, nor yet hide behind cryptic or esoteric symbols. Its beauty appeals to all, the difference is in degree. It’s strength lies in the felt fountain of reserve and not in breathless exhaustion.”
For those of us aspiring to produce this kind of art the mountain seems steep and tall. Our heroes, whose works inspire us, exist in some rarified air. It was through hard work and perseverance that they made their ascent. It is also through hard work and perseverance that we will make ours. Some of us will approach the summit, many of us will not. We will all reach new heights. We will behold previously unperceived vistas. We will make artful use of our visual vocabulary to convey the beauties beheld to those not called to behold. Art is beauty beheld and communicated to others!
Comments
5 Responses to “What Is Art?”
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Good stuff, Robert. And Carlson is not a bad guy to refer, or for that matter, defer to.
Hi Robert,
I enjoyed reading your entry this week and may as well add a few thoughts. I am not so certain hard work and perseverance will lead to understanding and success. Some people can work for 20 years and build on each year. Others may keep repeating the first year for 20 years. Both may or may not succeed, individually and/or in the public opinion. From time to time I will see a display of an artist and I find myself saying, ” well isn’t that something, but is it art.” Then I look and think and maybe sketch a bit and leave. Sometimes that is all, and other times I go back or think about it some more. I may ultimately feel it is not art, but the process of deciding that may indirectly confirm that it is art, just a type I can not respond or identify with at this time. Just as we can not see or hear all that exists, what is art may go beyond each of our abilities to comprehend. But we can all have our personal opinions. Well, time to go and create some art.
Doug
Good article Robert!
I don’t think I have ever seen a list this complete with room to expand.
I will keep it as a aid to assist me in choosing compositions and reviewing the progress and completion of my paintings.
Happy Holidays!
I just returned from DC and saw the Portrait Competition at the National Gallery. There was a very intriging painting by Margaret Bowland, and I want to encourage you and your readers to go to http://www.margaretbowland.com, look at her paintings and read her artist statement. Her paintings are emotional and complex and amazing! Some are beautiful and not easy to look at, all at the same time.
Kathryn, those are profound images that indeed provoke emotion. They artfully question long standing standards and morays. I thought immediately of another artist: http://www.danielsprick.com.
Not the same subject matter but the same questioning edge. Thank you!