What is art?
With nearly eight billion people on this planet, this question has the potential for nearly eight billion answers. There’s sure to be much overlap, but the main idea is that we each have particular ways of defining beauty and expression.
Beauty, after all, is in the eye of the beholder.
This, however, does not answer the question directly. What is art?
It’s a question I ask myself every time I visit an art museum or gallery. There are so many different ways of expression, and some of them I find appealing and others I don’t, and yet they’re all gathered together in curated halls because someone somewhere found them appealing.
I visited an art museum today. They were featuring one artist’s work. The pieces were selected for the political commentary across the artist’s work, which was rather profound.
And incredibly relevant.
But I digress. What is art?
Art’s always fascinated me, but it hasn’t been until recently that I’ve really begun to dive into it. I’ve studied design and do design work on occasion, but that’s not quite the same as being immersed in art. Now I’m subscribed to a few art magazines and taking the opportunity to view and study art when I can. And all because I edit for an arts-based newsletter.
And honestly, I love it.
As a result, I launched my own art project, and have been meeting and learning about other artists. It’s a lot of fucking fun. And I’m picking up more art in the process. After waltzing through the museum, I spent some time browsing OpenSea and picked up this piece:
I followed the artist on Twitter and started a conversation. I love how art has the potential to create communities. And just because someone somewhere finds it appealing.
What is art?
I think art is the celebration of the joy of expression. Art is what that expression becomes when someone recognizes it. And it only takes one person.