What Is Art?
The one we like and the one we don’t
Two Types Of art
I subscribe to the view that there are two types of art: the one we like and the one we don’t. My favourite part of this simple statement is that it doesn’t deprive the works we don’t prefer of their nature as works of art. Often, we disregard and diminish what we aren’t keen on. We justify our dislike by claiming that what we look at doesn’t qualify as art. We deem it not good enough to be considered what it was intended to be. Of course, this is highly denigrating for the artist behind creative labour, and it reeks of insecurity on the observer’s part. It is similar to the unfortunately common practice of dehumanising our enemies so we can hate them easily and sleep at night.
Lexicographers
With that out of the way, what is art? We can appreciate it when we see it and identify it as such, but defining it is an arduous task. When faced with a challenge of this magnitude, it is a good idea to refer to those better than us in the field, so I checked a couple of dictionaries to see how those master lexicographers fared. My favourite attempts include, ‘[…] the expression, […] according to aesthetic principles, of what is beautiful, appealing, or of more than ordinary significance’ and, more briefly, ‘the conscious use of skill and creative imagination’.