What is Art?

So I was sitting in an artist lecture last night with a man who started a movement. It had to do with making neighborhoods colorful, which is an amazing idea for the city he lives in. Detroit is a city that is fast turning into a town of ghosts. And what few people remain are usually embedded in a less than stellar lifestyle. So this project is a saving grace to the people of this city. That said, I don't think I would want polka dots and huge lots of painted trash where I live. None-the-less, his movement is spreading.

But then he said something that made me think about how insane artists really are. He said "everything is art." Is it? If so, why am I in art school? If everything is art, couldn't I just point a camera at the sky, press record, and call it art? This idea bothered me, so I told someone in one of my classes about this and he told me, "Yes, that's art."

Come again? So, you're telling me that pointing a camera at the sky, and pressing record is art? I dunno about you, but I think if I suggested that to my video professor she might actually kill me (for real). And yet we have people painting polka dots on buses, squares on canvas, and putting upside down urinals in museums. We call that art. So what is art really? Is it our ability to convince someone of an idea? Then wouldn't being artist actually mean that we're being con mans? There's a thought. We con people into believing the illusions we paint on canvas, the ideas we sell on paper, and the tales we tell from our imagination. A perfect example of this illusion is the 3D movie experience. The selling point is that "you feel like you're really there." But you aren't. In fact, you never were. What you're seeing is an illusion of light, projection, and digital manipulation of audio and video. So is that what art is? A chance for someone to experience something other than their immediate environment? Maybe. That would mean though that our lecturer was wrong. Art isn't everything. It's only something that exists in our imaginations and memories, but made tangible through talent, materials, and hard work. This theory would also state that my theory of pointing a camera at the sky and pressing record wouldn't actually be art after all. Because, that doesn't exist in my imagination.

So what is art? Who knows really. I couldn't tell you for sure. No one can. No matter how art historians try to tell you that they know the answer and artists try to prove that what they do is art... well, I have news for you. No one has the answer. It's a question that has no right answer, so all I can tell you is to use your best judgement and decide for yourself whether something is actually art.

~ C.Mitchell