What is Art?

Dear Readers,

Today I will attempt to define one of the most blatantly undefined terms of the world through logic. For the many of you who can read and for the few who read the title you would know that this concept is art. For those who didn't read the title the concept is art.

The reason why this is so hard to explain is simple. We go back hundreds of years and what we have is beautiful paintings which are greatly detailed. We go to today and we have poles painted red and placed in the middle of a museum. We go back to the time of Greece and we have epic poems. We go to today and we have Twilight, Star Wars, and Harry Potter. Not that I have any issue with the latter two works as I think they are great coming of age/ destruction of an evil empire stories it's simply that looking backwards and comparing something like Twilight to Othello our artistic standards have dropped.

However if we place all that aside we note something interesting. Art is in the eye of the beholder. I know people who love the red pole and Twilight while I hate it. There are people who tell me Green Day are punks when I settle for nothing less then the Dead Kennedies, the Sex Pistols and The Misfits as standards for punks.

I am friends with many people through Model Congress and many of them are fellow writers, musicians, actors and even some dancers. It was only inevitable from day one that I would see people whose skills only continue to amaze me. And recently it struck me while I was talking with some of them that some of the things that impressed me they shrugged off while some of the things that impressed them I shrugged off.

If they shrugged it off why do I call it art? Why do I see them as artists? The question is the same for me, how am I an artist? At this point I'd have to define art simply. Art is a form of trade which is ever evolving to adapt to the changing times, people and society. Art is commonly shared among this society in order to strengthen social bonds however in recent times art has become something that has turned to us questioning our standards for art and society itself. Art in its current form is often left to the viewer as many pieces of art are obscure and has room to maneuver.

Will have a much better definition the next time I touch on this subject,

Mike Hand