What is art? Well, it depends on who you ask.
You may find art defined by a series of specific components and qualifications, or simply something beautiful. Some may say that art requires classical skill or talent. Maybe when you hear the word art you immediately think of the great talents of the past, like Van Gogh, or even just people who can follow a Bob Ross tutorial and actually end up with a happy little mountain.
Image from GIPHY
My guess is, however, that when you think about art, you probably don’t think of yourself. Although none of the previous definitions of art are necessarily wrong, they're just not exhaustive. They overlook what it truly means to create art, what art feels like, to both the Creator and the appreciator. Many people say that electronic music isn’t music because no physical instruments are being played, or that a digital painting isn’t art because it does not require a canvas, as if to assume that the Creator is talentless and the work meaningless. That is easy to say until such a work touches you.
I suppose you can’t fault anyone for trying to define this enigma, but I find some of these definitions to be somewhat suffocating. So many people don’t consider themselves artists because of the stiff connotation that the title carries. I’ve been creative all my life, but I never felt I was a true artist. This is partly because I thought being an artist meant being financially unstable (and that idea was reinforced by common images of a starving painter or a studio apartment full of unsold work) and partly because I never felt I deserved the title. I never could hang with the artistically-inclined kids in school since I couldn’t draw like they could and always struggled to paint any kind of landscape. But is that all art is?
Image from GIPHY
I’ve always been more of a “make-and-edit-a-video, coordinate-a-podcast, write-my-thoughts, or make-something-out-of-paper" kind of Creator. But by large, this isn’t what people think of when they hear the word art. After all, have you ever seen a video, short story, or a podcast on display at an art museum? Not to take away from the respect and skill associated with classical art forms, or to say that they are the same as modern forms, but maybe we could broaden the scope of what we think of as art.
This whole idea struck me in a college discussion group. My peers and I were told to read an article and asked to tell if the described piece was, in fact, art or not. The story was about R Mutt’s Fountain: a urinal, which artist Marcel Duchamp adorned with the words “R. Mutt” and then submitted to the Society of Independent Artists to be showcased. “Fountain” was rejected. It was suspected that Duchamp did this simply to see how inclusive the committee would be - essentially, a test of boundaries. In my view, this exact reason makes “Fountain” a work of art. It is representative of what people do or don’t consider art. It tells a silent story. Even if Duchamp never intended for the urinal to make a statement at all, put in minimal effort, and exercised little to no learned skill, many people find it meaningful, so, is it then art? Perhaps it is.
Image from GIPHY
What’s my point here? What if we accepted another definition for art, not doing away with the old, just tacking on another meaning? Art is something created or taken to carry meaning by a person or persons. Its value is in its ability to connect people, to cross barriers of culture and sometimes language and tell another person “someone understands”. Its value is in its ability to speak to someone or tell a story through something you created, to elicit feeling. Art is a form of communication that conveys deeper meaning. This can include painting, drawing, writing, stop motion, composing music (electronic or otherwise), film, photography, editing, welding, woodworking, design, landscaping, decoration, and yes, a urinal.
Even if a piece bears no meaning to some onlookers, that is irrelevant to its inestimable value to others. It is a representation of the human condition, it speaks to the soul, and it brings people together. It gets up in your heart and makes you feel seen. Maybe electronic music requires a different skill than playing a mean sax solo, but does that mean that it isn’t art? It still involves immense work, skill, and talent and has a meaningful impact in the lives of those who create and enjoy it alike. Being skilled at Photoshop is not the same as being an incredible photographer, but many photoshop artists create amazing, meaningful pictures by combining real and imaginary imagery.
If you haven’t caught on by now, I’m not calling for any physical change in the world here. We don’t need to protest Miriam Webster for how art is defined or complain to art museums about their lack of podcast exhibits. The only change I’m trying to incite here is change within your thinking. If you were told you aren’t an artist (maybe you even told yourself this) you are. You’re an artist even if you’ve never been encouraged to create or if you worry that whatever you do create won’t be good enough. If you are expressing yourself through things you make or alter, you are an artist. So, don’t be afraid to humbly call your art Art, and don’t put your peers down just because their art doesn’t include a brush or a pencil. Art shouldn’t be defined by some professor or committee, art belongs to the masses, and as far as I’m concerned, we're all artists here.
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Note From Tongal: This blog is part of a series of Tongal Community-written blog posts that were originally sourced in the Tongal Blog Open Call Project. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Tongal. Read more Tongal Community-written posts here!
