What is Art for us ? Art has been defined by many (philosophers, mostly) in many different ways over the years.
According to Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Whether art can be defined has … been a matter of controversy. The philosophical usefulness of a definition of art has also been debated. They go on to state that any definition of art has to square with some uncontroversial facts, one of which is art’s normative dimension – the high value placed on making and consuming art – appears to be essential to it, and artworks can have considerable moral and political as well as aesthetic power. This is an interesting and indisputable aspect of Art- that we place value on Art partly on the efforts put into the art by the artist and also by the moral, political and aesthetic values attributed to it.
As per ancient philosopher, Plato, art is representational or imitative.
For Immanuel Kant, an 18th century German philosopher, art should transcend mere sensory engagement and actively involve the audience’s intellectual faculties. Kant argued that genuine art possesses an aesthetic value that stands independently of individual tastes or cultural influences. (Ref: https://www.atxfinearts.com/blogs/ news/art-according-to-immanuel-kant)
In his book, “What is Art?” Leo Tolstoy exclaims “Under the cloak of “art,” so much selfish amusement and self-indulgence tries to justify itself … and his definition of Art is summarised as “Art is a human activity,” and consequently does not exist for its own sake, but is valuable or objectionable in proportion as it is serviceable or harmful to mankind. The object of this activity is to transmit to others, feeling the artist has experienced. Such feelings—intentionally re-evoked and successfully transmitted to others—are the subject-matter of all art. By certain external signs—movements, lines, colours, sounds, or arrangements of words—an artist infects other people so that they share his feelings. Thus “art is a means of union among men, joining them together in the same feelings.”
{Ref : https://www.gutenberg.org/files/64908/64908-h/64908-h.htm}
In the contemporary Art world propagated in the media, what goes on as “Art” may be a banana taped to a canvas, sold for hundreds of thousands of dollars or some concurrent frames or bowls accompanied by a half-naked creator. There’s nothing iconic about many of these other than its shock value – in the case of the banana, can you recreate it? Can I? Yes. Anyone can. How much effort has been put into it by its creator? What aesthetic, moral or political values are assigned to it? There’s nothing in it that deserves an iconic or a quarter-million-dollar tag. These are two instances of “selfish amusement” and “self-indulgence”.
The art world has become something of a joke, an inside joke, another laughable pursuit of the idle rich.
Most of us have little to nothing to do with art other than passively enjoying someone’s work when it scrolls down our “smart” screens. In our race for survival, even our kitchens have become bereft of any creativity. Yet during the pandemic lockdowns, when our world appeared muted and shrunk within our walls, it was our artistic capabilities, dusted and practiced on, that helped at least some of us stay sane- Art and our reconnection with nature. Many of us re/discovered our talents in drawing. Painting, singing, dancing, pottery, gardening and so on, while some of us translated our passion for food into cooking. Internet, in a way saved us from drowning in the incessant fear-mongering and sensationalization of tragedies that flooded our TV channels, by connecting us with the artistic folks from around the world.
For me, Art is an individual pursuit, something that
- helps me get out of my head
- the repetitive actions in sewing or cooking or pottery has a calming effect on me.
- lets me reimagine the world I live in.
For example, let’s take the case of cooking. When I was growing up in the 70s, the cuisine I was exposed to, was limited to what was made at home and a monthly-exposure of my grandparents’ cuisine, or an annual exposure of that of my aunt’s or an occasional wedding feast or a once-in-a-blue-moon birthday bash. As limited as these other occasions were, there was not much diversity to partake of either; it was all regional/local cuisines with slight tinkering of the cooking processes or masalas. But now, from the comforts of our homes, we are exposed to thousands of ways in which people, around the world, use the same ingredients to create unique dishes, traditional or modern/ fusion with their knowledge, skills and creativity. And we can also recreate them ourselves modifying it with our ingredients, thus becoming a part of that larger world of home-chefs, a link in the network, a reimagined cuisine world! So also with drawing, painting, sewing, gardening, wood-work, etc. - Something that challenges my pre-conceived notions of my capabilities and what society defines as Art. While it might matter to the Art galleries and museums as to what should be considered as Art to find a place in them, in my home, I can make a doodle or a street artist’s masterpiece-in-minutes, put it in a frame and give it a proud space in my living room..
Art means many things to many people. For the Art world, it’s an investment, something to make money out of; for the artist, it’s a means to record the world or events, real or imagined in creative ways, it’s one of their means of livelihood or luxury – an individual pursuit which on gaining popularity, brings its creator the “artist” crown; for the rest of us, it’s a pleasurable pass-time, a feel-good thing to do, which elevates our senses without messing our brains like scrolling screens does. And we’ll still be considering masterpieces of the distant past as the benchmark in judging art works in public arena.
