How Do We Know What Art Is?

The modern world is a very strange place. We have artistic abilities that our ancestors could never have dreamed of. We can capture perfect images of real live events, and can even record videos of those events with a snap of our fingers. These recordings can then be altered using contrast, tone, and color; we can even draw directly on them. This gives artists an unprecedented level of freedom to make their wildest creative dreams come true.

However the soul of the artist, that primal creative spirit, is the same as it was in our ancestor's centuries ago. We still have basically the same eyes, the same minds, and the same spirits as people who yearned and created and imagined in ancient days. We as creatures have not evolved all that much, instead it is our tools which have gotten better.

In the old world, hampered by primitive tools, humans strove to create art which was representative of life. At first this meant the creation of accurate works. Later the masters developed the talent for capturing more than a vision, but of actually creating spirit of a moment in time.

With cameras, and video equipment, realistic representation is no longer necessary, or useful in most artistic endeavors. Whatever the human hand can make, the camera can capture just as accurately, if not more so.

In the modern world, art is more about the ideas behind the images. Symbolic representation is a key element, and every picture, video, or creation has to have a meaning that makes it deeper and more profound than simple representation.

In some ways, this has led people to explore the boundaries of art itself. Trying to find the limit of what we will acceptably call a piece of art is a form of art in and of itself. This is demonstrated when people create offensive works such as holy symbols drenched in bodily fluids, or let their dogs randomly paint images onto canvases. The idea is to explore the word art, not to even enjoy or appreciate the work being presented as such.

Some people still claim to the notion that art is the creation of beauty. However, others would be quick to retort with an ambiguous discussion on what the definition of beauty is. It can be argued that there is a beauty in new ideas, new concepts, and new thoughts. There is also an argument for the beauty which can be found in dark and terrifying things.

The definition of art will always be debated. It is a word which carries too many emotions, and is too important in our society for us to simply accept an arbitrary definition. It is too politically charged. So, without help from dictionary or experts, in the end you will have to define what art is for yourself. In this way the definition of art really becomes relative to who you are and what you believe.

Source : Ezinearticles