Question:
What is art?
Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:
Depends on who you ask. In most cases it's whatever people will pay way too much for no matter the level of skill, intent, comment, or whatever.
I know someone who won a major award for nailing a cheap frame to the board he used to ink print plates on. He just entered it for fun. He doesn't think it's art. He thinks it funny as heck that well respected critics do.
Personally, I think art is that which captures the beauty in human condition. I also think that beauty can be found in even the most horrific of situations. Even, and, often, especially the ugliest things can be beautiful. It's just that which moves the viewer. It can be terrifying, painful, distressing, objectionable, and, even, out-right traumatizing. These things are as beautiful as the things that are inspire love, joy, lust, and humour.
Peaceful sunsets and placid landscapes or seascapes are not art to me. Lovely little still-lives with apples and pears and a glass of wine are not art. There is no passion there. They are really just studies. They are great ways to develop skills but offer nothing of the human condition. They belong in mid-priced hotels, dentist's, doctor's, and lawyer's offices. They fill space and don't offend.
Most "modern" and abstract art is the same. It's just using colour and images to create safe pictures for the very same industries as above. They just cost more because when you have no clue what you're looking at it simply MUST be worth more.
Sometimes the best art can be the most controversial art. It's the kind you look at and have to look away because it is just that disturbing. It is beautiful because it conveys that emotion that perfectly. It's not pretty but it makes you feel.
Art makes you feel something and makes you feel it really strongly. You don't have to make sense of it. You don't have to understand it. You certainly don't have to like it. You just have to feel it and that is what makes it a work of pure beauty.