What is Art?

Aspens, December 2013

“Art is the reason I get up in the morning, but the definition ends there. It doesn't seem fair that I'm living for something I can't even define.”
― Ani DiFranco

“Art is the lie that enables us to realize the truth.”
― Pablo Picasso

"What is art?" is one of the most commonly asked questions among artists and viewers alike, and like any of life's big questions the answers are as diverse as those who seek them. Some think of art as something to tap into--a creative energy or force that exists outside of ourselves, that only some can truly open up to and let through. Others see art as a cause of resistance, as a means of expression based solely on moving others or causing others to see the world differently. There seems to be a divide in the art world, and even that divide is hard to place a line through--some focus on the process of art, others, on its outcome. I think in this array of meaning, there is room for all definitions. Art can remain an undefined space where we come to produce, to be taken, to let go. Its a widely applicable tool, but its aim invariably is to ask questions, to acknowledge the mystery of being alive, of being conscious.

Sometimes I wonder if art is our attempt to rejoin the ego-less state we experience before we're aware that we are alone. Maybe that is what art is for me, my attempt to lose my ego-state and to dive back into the unconscious, our true home away from I-dentity. It is curious that children acquire the drive to create around the time they begin defining themselves as different than others, a natural contradiction. Perhaps as we develop into our unique characteristics and sense of self, we recognize the divide ever-growing between ourselves and others. Art is the place we display that inner-yearning for connection, its the alter where we can "attend to the mystery." But it also creates dissonance within us--for while we may be attempting to reconnect to the world we are dividing ourselves from it. This is where the term "creative tension" comes from, and is the angst of every artist--that in trying to rid ourselves of this drive, we fall further into it, the need becomes greater, more urgent.

“What do you think an artist is? ...he is a political being, constantly aware of the heart breaking, passionate, or delightful things that happen in the world, shaping himself completely in their image. Painting is not done to decorate apartments. It is an instrument of war.”
― Pablo Picasso

“The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance.”
― Aristotle

“There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is nor how valuable nor how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open. You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work. You have to keep yourself open and aware to the urges that motivate you. Keep the channel open. ... No artist is pleased. [There is] no satisfaction whatever at any time. There is only a queer divine dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive than the others”
― Martha Graham

“I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free.”
― Michelangelo Buonarroti

In the end, everyone seems to carry a different expectation and definition of art within themselves, but we continue to call this need for expression and connection by the same word, art.