The Art of Thought and Feeling
Art doesn’t have to be a thousand year old oil painting hanging in The Getty Center to be considered artistic; it could be a pile of napkins filled with snot and tears that you shape into a dying bird as a symbol of your broken heart. Whether it fills you with disgust, adoration, or confusion, if the work at hand makes you feel or think, it’s art in my book. Art is a subjective, personal thing that is uniquely defined by each individual in the moment of their aesthetic experience, or lack thereof. “Art” is a general term for anything that incites any type of emotion or thought, both positive and negative, simply by existing, something that was clearly reinforced throughout my year in AP Art History.
Art is a form of expression that inspires rebellions, ends wars, and brings people together in a way that language cannot. Art can do all of this to people because it connects to our emotions and thoughts, the driving forces of our personalities and everyday lives. Art draws us in this way, uniting our hearts in their individual aesthetic experiences. If seeing a few brushstrokes on a canvas can bring someone to tears, clearly there is a reason behind the tradition of creation that has lasted millions of years.
There are some things that language simply cannot transfer because things get lost in translation, or locked in the confines of the definition of a word. Art is universal, and can be viewed by anyone from anywhere, which is what makes it so easily loveable. Things that may get lost in translation can transcend international and language barriers if they are depicted through artwork instead of literature or language. Emotions can be understood in any language, and so can art because it incites emotion. Anything can be art to anyone, which is part of the beauty of art’s universal ability to connect to our emotions.
Art can and will be anything because we have no control over what other people view as art. Like the saying goes, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure, and this goes for art as well. We cannot determine what will be beautiful to the person next to us, much like they cannot imagine what is beautiful in our eyes. Each person’s individual experiences that make up their entire life are the factors that determine whether something is art or not, and this is part of the beauty of art. Art is whatever it wants to be, because it is whatever we want it to be. Art is anything that brings you to tears, spreads a grin across your face, or makes your stomach flip. Art is anything that inspires, whether it be emotion, action, or thought.
As I learned throughout my year in AP Art History, art truly can be anything, created by anyone, meaning anything. The possibilities for art are literally endless, because the conception of something as art is subjective, depending on the upbringing, personality, and emotions of the viewer. One specific aspect of a person’s view of something as art that I learned is very influential is the context of the time, and where in the art time spectrum the piece was created. Art created by the Minoans and Mycenaeans differs greatly from the Pop Art of the 1960’s, yet they are both considered important periods of artistic creation. The historical occurrences of the time that influence public onion determine what the public sees as propaganda, deceit, or rebellious, depending on their individual familial and socio-economic statuses. Art is subjective, and always has been, because the human experience as a whole is subjective, and art is merely an imitation, or the human attempt at a representation of the longest thing we ever experience: life.
Works Cited
Eaton, Marcia M. Philosophical Aesthetics: A Way of Knowing and Its Limits. Vol. 28. Illinois: U of Illinois, 1994. 12-18. Print.
Strickland, Carol, and John Boswell. The Annotated Mona Lisa: A Crash Course in Art History from Prehistoric to Post-modern. Kansas City: Andrews and McMeel, 1992. Print.
Art doesn’t have to be a thousand year old oil painting hanging in The Getty Center to be considered artistic; it could be a pile of napkins filled with snot and tears that you shape into a dying bird as a symbol of your broken heart. Whether it fills you with disgust, adoration, or confusion, if the work at hand makes you feel or think, it’s art in my book. Art is a subjective, personal thing that is uniquely defined by each individual in the moment of their aesthetic experience, or lack thereof. “Art” is a general term for anything that incites any type of emotion or thought, both positive and negative, simply by existing, something that was clearly reinforced throughout my year in AP Art History.
Art is a form of expression that inspires rebellions, ends wars, and brings people together in a way that language cannot. Art can do all of this to people because it connects to our emotions and thoughts, the driving forces of our personalities and everyday lives. Art draws us in this way, uniting our hearts in their individual aesthetic experiences. If seeing a few brushstrokes on a canvas can bring someone to tears, clearly there is a reason behind the tradition of creation that has lasted millions of years.
There are some things that language simply cannot transfer because things get lost in translation, or locked in the confines of the definition of a word. Art is universal, and can be viewed by anyone from anywhere, which is what makes it so easily loveable. Things that may get lost in translation can transcend international and language barriers if they are depicted through artwork instead of literature or language. Emotions can be understood in any language, and so can art because it incites emotion. Anything can be art to anyone, which is part of the beauty of art’s universal ability to connect to our emotions.
Art can and will be anything because we have no control over what other people view as art. Like the saying goes, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure, and this goes for art as well. We cannot determine what will be beautiful to the person next to us, much like they cannot imagine what is beautiful in our eyes. Each person’s individual experiences that make up their entire life are the factors that determine whether something is art or not, and this is part of the beauty of art. Art is whatever it wants to be, because it is whatever we want it to be. Art is anything that brings you to tears, spreads a grin across your face, or makes your stomach flip. Art is anything that inspires, whether it be emotion, action, or thought.
As I learned throughout my year in AP Art History, art truly can be anything, created by anyone, meaning anything. The possibilities for art are literally endless, because the conception of something as art is subjective, depending on the upbringing, personality, and emotions of the viewer. One specific aspect of a person’s view of something as art that I learned is very influential is the context of the time, and where in the art time spectrum the piece was created. Art created by the Minoans and Mycenaeans differs greatly from the Pop Art of the 1960’s, yet they are both considered important periods of artistic creation. The historical occurrences of the time that influence public onion determine what the public sees as propaganda, deceit, or rebellious, depending on their individual familial and socio-economic statuses. Art is subjective, and always has been, because the human experience as a whole is subjective, and art is merely an imitation, or the human attempt at a representation of the longest thing we ever experience: life.
Works Cited
Eaton, Marcia M. Philosophical Aesthetics: A Way of Knowing and Its Limits. Vol. 28. Illinois: U of Illinois, 1994. 12-18. Print.
Strickland, Carol, and John Boswell. The Annotated Mona Lisa: A Crash Course in Art History from Prehistoric to Post-modern. Kansas City: Andrews and McMeel, 1992. Print.