What is art?
Today I was asked the question, “what is art?” (Pulford, 2014). Of course this question was asked to encourage useful thought about the artistic relevance of our solo performances. Of course you could pick up a dictionary and site the meaning of art however it seems like there is more to art than a simple dictionary found definition. If anything looking in a dictionary feels like the wrong place to be looking for the meaning of art; quite paradoxical.
In the case of Chewiwie
(Matt Chewiwie, 2008).
In the case of Chewiwie, is he an artist? Matt Chewiwie is supposedly an artist; he claims. However when watching a few of his YouTube videos I am not filled with awe, or become excited or inspired. Due to the many meanings of art found in the dictionary, his videos simultaneously can and cannot be considered art. On one hand they do not function as art as they are not what the dictionary definition describes as “beautiful” or “appealing”. While on the other hand another dictionary definition describes art as something that falls under “a field, genre, or category” which Chewiwie’s work does fall under (yeah, the dictionary is not helpful). (Dictionary.com, 2014).
(TED, 2014)
Luke Syson, a museum art collector might call Chewiwie’s work “useless” art, art so profound that it becomes fantastic, “like a car crash” where you “can’t stop looking”. Even though he may produce “useless” art, in any case by this definition he is an artist – or is he? (TED, 2014)
(Overgaard, 2011, cited in leica.overgaard.dk, 2011)
Ralph Waldo Emerson a 19th century poet says “every artist was first an amateur”, so in the case of Chewiwie maybe he is yet to graduate as an artist because he is still an amateur.
Art is art is art
With so many contradicting and overlapping descriptions of art or an artist, it becomes extremely difficult to come up with a definitive answer to previous questions. Art itself is a description and a form; the description used to describe the form. Art (the description) describes art (the form). This is why effectively art is art is art. So to ask “what is art?” is almost like asking for the description of the description of the description.
What is “good” art?
The purpose of this question was to make me and the class think about what artistic merit our solo performances might hold. To better help this purpose I have decided to rephrase the question, as you can tell the original question was giving me nightmares trying to logically think about an answer.
So what is good art I ask you say? Good art is that, that achieves in aesthetically expressing the artists emotions or ideals in a manner that transposes reality.
Reference list:
Dictionary.com (2014) Art. [Online] http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/art [Accessed 10 February].
Matt Chewiwie (2008) Matt Chewiwie’s Artist Statement. [online video] Available from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yJPZfFOrsc [Accessed 23 May 2014].
Overgaard, T. (2011) Untitled. [online] Denmark: leica.overgaard.dk. Available from http://www.overgaard.dk/the-story-behind-that-picture-0052_gb.html [accessed 23/05/2014
Pulford, D. (2014) Solo Performance. [Lecture] Solo Performance – 1314 (DRA3043M-1314), University of Lincoln, 30 January.
TED (2014) Luke Syson: How I learned to stop worrying and love “useless” art. [Online Video] Available from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-Uvy6pvLA4 [Accessed 31 January 2014].
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