Art is seen as a form of expression. A way to get feelings out and to show a new thought or idea. New forms of art have been created and destroyed for centuries, and often art defines and outlines history.
Picasso, Van Gogh, Da Vinci. All visual artists who were once non-existent are now household names. But you are not Picasso.
Your wine-drunk painting from your girls-night-out, your daughter 's finger painting on the fridge and your sculpture from 8th grade the teacher called,"intellectual." Nice try, but it isn't art.
I'm not going to flatter myself and say that I am a grade-A artist with the experience and talent of Michelangelo, but art is much more debatable than people say. It's a very common misconception that art is a free-form style of expression with no boundaries, that it can be done by anyone and anything.
But good art, the art that makes you stop and think. Those creations are the ones that deserve the title of "art". The art that makes you think what they eat for breakfast, how they were raised, what gave them this idea, where they were in life when they created it, that is the art that needs to be installed in museums and preserved until the world is ash.
This idea of art that it's universal for all has good spirit, but it's just incorrect. It disregards the work, time, and thought that millions of deeply talented artists invest in their craft. Putting the work of Andy Warhol and your five-year old in the same category is just insulting.
Merriam-Webster defines art as, "the conscious use of skill and creative imagination especially in the production of aesthetic objects." Skill is not needed to make a paint-by-numbers, nor is a finger painting of a flower very aesthetic.
Good art is something that deserves it's own title. And though many say all art is good art, a single strip of paint should not be sold for millions. It's simply a disgrace.
The criteria for beautiful art is an enigma. Many can't grasp it, and it's not necessarily anyone's right to define it. This is purely just my opinion. However, with that being said, all good art has one common factor.
When you walk through a museum or an art gallery, often you walk by other paintings to get to the one that really attracts your attention. It's those paintings that have the true "wow" factor making viewers think and gape. And normally these pieces have a certain craftsmanship that draws curiosity.
This doesn't mean painting should not longer be an outlet for stress, and that you should drop your adult coloring book and throw it in the garbage.
But it does mean we're doing something very wrong here. We shouldn't be putting all art into one box, we should diversify and elevate the pieces with the most beauty.
