{"id":3222,"date":"2013-10-30T14:41:23","date_gmt":"2013-10-30T19:41:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cgayling.com\/malmaxa\/?p=3222"},"modified":"2013-10-30T14:41:23","modified_gmt":"2013-10-30T19:41:23","slug":"is-it-art-or-is-it-not","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cgayling.com\/malmaxa\/general\/is-it-art-or-is-it-not\/","title":{"rendered":"Is it art, or is it not?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The tweet below initiated a discussion on the nature of art.\u00a0 It also provoked this post, in which I\u2019ll try and define, for myself, what art is. \u00a0Yes, I know I\u2019m tackling a touchy subject for some, but that&#8217;s never stopped me before so I don\u2019t see why it should now.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">If we paint with a broad brush,<br \/>we should not expect fine art.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; C.G.Ayling (@CGAyling) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/CGAyling\/status\/394451776918667264?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 27, 2013<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.x.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h6>If we paint with a broad brush, we should not expect fine art.<\/h6>\n<p>Onward! \u00a0The following are my views on the nature of art, you\u2019re entirely free to disagree.<\/p>\n<h2>If someone has to tell you it\u2019s art, it isn\u2019t.<\/h2>\n<p>I\u2019ve had many people tell me various things are art.\u00a0 If they don\u2019t move me on some emotional level, then to me they are anything but art. I don\u2019t care how smart, popular, or prolific the artist is.\u00a0 I don\u2019t care how brilliant and renowned the critic attempting to coach me on the meaning of art might be, or might believe they are. If it doesn\u2019t make me care, then it is not art, least not to me.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">What art is not,<br \/>is easier than to grasp than what art is.<br \/>But art is not,<br \/>simply because someone says, &quot;it is.&quot;<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; C.G.Ayling (@CGAyling) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/CGAyling\/status\/395291297520418816?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 29, 2013<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.x.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h6>What art is not, is easier than to grasp than what art is. But art is not, simply because someone says, &#8220;it is.&#8221;<\/h6>\n<h2>Art, is soul essence, extracted.<\/h2>\n<p>I know when I encounter art.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t matter what form art takes, I just know.\u00a0 And I think you all do too.\u00a0 There is something very special about real art that makes it easily recognized. I think each of us has favorite art forms.\u00a0 It might be music, painting, sculpture, poetry, or prose \u2013 what it is doesn\u2019t matter so much as that it is.\u00a0 And when we see it, we feel it as well.\u00a0 If we don\u2019t feel it, well then is it really art at all?<\/p>\n<h2>Art is not created for cash, but for necessity.<\/h2>\n<p>Can an artist prevent themselves creating art?\u00a0 I don\u2019t think they can.\u00a0 Whatever their muse, if theirs is like mine, it wants out! \u00a0It needs out.\u00a0 It will get out.\u00a0 And we, the appreciators of their creativity, will be the richer for their muse\u2019s escape.\u00a0 Do artists release their muse for money?\u00a0 If I sold mine, I don\u2019t think it would ever return. \u00a0Am I saying artists shouldn\u2019t make a living from their art?\u00a0 Hard question, that.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think I am.<\/p>\n<h2>Art is not arrogant.<\/h2>\n<p>It might be bold, it might be brave, art might be bigoted, or free, but one of the things that art never is to me, is arrogant.\u00a0 I\u2019ve never gazed on a piece of art and felt it looking down on me.\u00a0 Critics?\u00a0 Another story entirely.\u00a0 Artists?\u00a0 Those few I\u2019ve met have never been arrogant, indeed they have been as close to arrogance\u2019s opposite as I can imagine.\u00a0 The word?\u00a0 Humble.\u00a0 Perhaps humble people are more willing to bleed, and what is art if not a soul\u2019s essence, reformed?<\/p>\n<h2>Art is created, not accidental.<\/h2>\n<p>Can there be such a thing as accidental art?\u00a0 I firmly believe there cannot.\u00a0 Yes, within nature are many beautiful, wonderful things, but art is more than that, and sometimes art is neither of those things.\u00a0 Something essential about the nature of art is that it is created with deliberate intent to evoke emotion. By extension nature does not create art. Nature creates things with an intent of life, not of emotion. However, whatever art is, art invariably has soul.\u00a0 Soul comes from the living, and to be released from its holder requires a conscious decision by the artist.\u00a0 Art requires effort.\u00a0 Art, it don\u2019t come easy\u2026<\/p>\n<h2>Artists should be the last to label themselves so.<\/h2>\n<p>Said it already, but I\u2019ll say it again.\u00a0 Humble.\u00a0 Humility is not feigned.\u00a0 The \u201c<strong><em>artists<\/em><\/strong>\u201d I\u2019ve encountered who break this pattern are invariably the ones who need to explain their art.\u00a0 Usually in a condescending manner expressing amazement we cannot perceive the magnificence of the emperor\u2019s new clothes {reference intended}.<\/p>\n<h2>Art needs no explanation.<\/h2>\n<p>We get it, and it grabs us, or it isn\u2019t art.<\/p>\n<h2>Artists are indeed capable of creating stuff that simply isn\u2019t art.<\/h2>\n<p>Even the most prolific sometimes simply can\u2019t.\u00a0 Do you doubt me?\u00a0 If you do {and who in their right mind would not}, then reflect on this next sentence. \u00a0If everything an artist creates is art, then the world\u2019s sewage systems are treasure troves.<\/p>\n<p>And that, is a tiny piece of what art is, to me.<\/p>\n<p>{With the post completed, I\u2019d like to mention how the tweet that started this wasn\u2019t referring to art, per se. It was about how willing we are to apply broad labels to individuals.<\/p>\n<p>I write.\u00a0 Tweets, thoughts, obscure thoughts, even a couple of books. I don\u2019t consider what I do art, but it\u2019s as close as I can come to creation. \u00a0Browse around my blog, read some <a title=\"art is not created for cash, however cash buys food for the foolish\" href=\"https:\/\/cgayling.com\/malmaxa\/samples\/\">samples<\/a> of my work, who knows my words might touch you, and if they do\u2026 they\u2019re art, least they are, to you.}<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The tweet below initiated a discussion on the nature of art.\u00a0 It also provoked this post, in which I\u2019ll try and define, for myself, what art is. \u00a0Yes, I know I\u2019m tackling a touchy subject for some, but that&#8217;s never stopped me before so I don\u2019t see why it should now. If we paint with [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[33,36],"class_list":["post-3222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","tag-art","tag-artistic"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cgayling.com\/malmaxa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3222","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cgayling.com\/malmaxa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cgayling.com\/malmaxa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cgayling.com\/malmaxa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cgayling.com\/malmaxa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3222"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cgayling.com\/malmaxa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3222\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cgayling.com\/malmaxa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cgayling.com\/malmaxa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cgayling.com\/malmaxa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}