Defining Art: What is Art?

As Arts of Cultures start to take shape, one topic I have to dig into is the definition of art.

Painting, sculptures, photography, drawings, sketches, fashion, music, songwriting, poetry and writing all falls under the description of art.

I’m sure there are several other elements some of you may consider art and I’ll be happy to add it to the list of coverage.

Here are a couple of descriptions I pulled from the Internet when I Googled the phrase: “What is Art”

• The expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power.

Now that was spot on to my list but then I read the following:

• The various branches of creative activity, such as painting, music, literature, and dance.

To be honest, I never looked at dance as art but I’ll add it to the list because, well, it just makes sense. Wikipedia also had its definition, which focused on visual arts:

• Art is a diverse range of human activities and the products of those activities; creation of images or objects in fields including painting, sculpture, printmaking, photography, and other visual media.

• Architecture is often included as one of the visual arts. Decorative arts involve the creation of objects where the practical considerations of use are essential—in a way that they usually are not in a painting, for example.

• Music, theatre, film, dance, and other performing arts, as well as literature and other media such as interactive media, are included in a broader definition of the arts.

That’s a mouthful but this pretty much sums up the definition of art, don’t you think? Now it’s time to head back to finding compelling topics facing the multicultural side of the art world and multicultural artists who are making an impact in a couple of these art platforms. I really think I’m on to something here.

How would you define art? 

If you’re a multicultural artist ready to have a discussion about specific topics in the art world, tweet me @TCsViews or email your ideas to astutestories@gmail.com