Art

The above painting is considered one of the most famous pieces of modern art. People go to the museum, stare at it and they feel emotions they didn't even know they had. The perfect balance of the colors complimenting each other, the even distribution of lines intertwined with glorious magic.
A piece that helps you understand life and is able to shake your perception, maybe even completely change your personality...

...or is it?

What is art anyway? What do we consider to be art? This debate is going on and I think it isn't getting anywhere near an answer, as everybody's perceptions are different.

The "piece of art" below is very controversial, it is considered art, just because the artist displaying it said so.

But it is just a urinal. So the question comes up: can anything be art just because we say so? The urinal has not even been crafted by the artist displaying it. With his logic, we could take just any every-day-use object, place it in a museum and claim that it is a piece or art, just because nobody has done it before.

So what is art? Or rather, what can be considered as a piece of art?

As this is a very subjective matter, I can only give my own definition, and feelings about this subject matter. But I think I am close to being right (obviously, since it is my own opinion).

To me, a piece of art is something that when you look at it, it evokes some emotions in you and/or you can see the creative/technical process the artist has undergone. You don't have to be able to relate the meaning to your personal experiences, but you have to be able to see beyond the piece of art itself (either in terms of meaning or technique).

Here are some examples:

Onement VI, Barnett Newman
estimated price: $30-40 million

NOT ART

Blue Skies I, Ira Lesser

ART

Abingdon

NOT ART

Rainy Landscape, Debra, Hurd

ART

Fountain, Marcel Duchamp

NOT ART

Инок, везиља магле

ART











So does it mean that I am limited somehow, since I cannot see the artistic value of some of the artworks above? Of course not! Like I said before, everybody's perceptions differ and as a result art will mean something different to every person, as will artworks.

And very much like with religion, you cannot force onto somebody the idea of art saying "you are wrong, this IS art, you just don't see it. You are so limited, you cannot see beyond the mundane." <rolls eyes in melodramatic pathos> But to that I say: the person who tells you this is the limited one, because they think that what they see and perceive is the ultimate truth, ignoring the fact that there are as many truths as there are thinking beings and equally as many artistic interpretations.