In Your View, what is Art?

In my view, art refers to the application of human skills and thinking in development of creative substances, environments for communal purposes. Since time immemorial, art’s definition has evolved overtime with the changing of various aspects of human expressions and perceptions. Thus, art has not always been what we perceive today and its definition might continue to evolve in the future considering that human beings are themselves undergoing changes in various aspects of their lives (Gallery, 1).  Before the 17^th century, art was not clearly distinguished from sciences and crafts. For centuries, definitions of art have resulted in several debates among philosophers with different individuals or groups presenting different views in this regard (Gallery, 1). To avoid this, modern philosophers should adopt one definition in the current world context to avoid ambiguity.

Why do you think you would want to call anything “art” in the first place?

In my opinion, art is a collective term referring to sculpture, painting, music, theatre, architecture and literature (Gallery, 1). I would call these things arts since they originate from human skills and creation. Equally, their future improvements and maintenance significantly depends on human creativity. Similarly, art describes several things ranging from emotions to material things. Thus, anything can be contextualized and called art.

Which “theory of art” covered in class makes the most sense to you & Why?

For centuries, art theories have emerged. However, in the 19^th century, theories majored on the concepts of truth and loveliness (Torres and Michelle 23). Among these theories were realist, objectivist, relativist position and modernism. In the late 19^th century, modernism theory emerged (Torres and Michelle 25). In my opinion, modernism theory makes the most sense to me. As affirmed by the theory, contemporary art refers to the application of attributes of a system to censure the system itself (Torres and Michelle 23). Through this theory, individuals can use their skills and creativity to criticize popular culture and other arts in the society, something that other theories failed. Correspondingly, current artist have advocated this technique of self-criticism through their fashions, images and billboards.