Who is Art Critic, and why doesn't he like me?

 

"It only becomes art if it touches other people."

Andreas Eschbach, "The Carpet Makers"

The other day my post included the phrase, “Art for art’s sake.”  Apparently this was, or for some people still is, a controversial topic.  Should art exist only for the sake of art, for it's intrinsic worth, or should all art support a higher purpose?

After giving it some thought it seems that this question can easily lead to an unbearable maze of semantics.  Starting with “what do you mean by art”, to “what is a higher purpose”, to “is a zebra just a horse with a really bad sense of fashion?”

The purpose here is not to answer the unanswerable questions in life.  When confronted with such questions it is often most useful to first clarify things by trying to understanding the real question.  Any collateral damage in the process is purely a bonus.

Let’s start with the really tricky part of the question, what is art.  In his novel “Stranger in a Strange Land” Robert Heinlein notes that in the English language the smaller the word the trickier the meaning.  And “art” is a pretty small word.

And so, in another idea that is shamelessly borrowed from Heinlein’s work, here is the definition of art. 

“Art” is a process through which one person or a group of people convey an emotion or message to an audience.  My own contribution, a slight clarification, any physical object used in that process is an “art object.”

So there you have it.

Now, many people proclaim “I don’t know what art is, but I know it when I see it.”  Sorry, but that sounds like balderdash. 

First, those poor misguided souls are confused between “art” (a process) and an “art object" (a physical thing).  

Perhaps what they really mean is, they can’t think of a definition that excludes art they don’t like.  Or, they can’t think of a definition that excludes ideas they don’t like from art.

When I hear phrases like “higher purpose” being bandied about the same sort of issue comes to mind.  It’s really not a question of what art is or is not, it’s a question about what people want it to be. 

So consider this.  Art is a process.  Forging metal is also a process.  That process can be used for creating the beams of a church, or of a high rise office building.  It can be used to create ships to explore the furthest corners of the Earth, telescopes to explore the furthest reaches of space, or shovels for 4 year old children to explore the beach.  It can make a cross, or a bomb.

Building churches and ships is certainly a laudable pursuit.  But people also need pails to search the beach, and golf clubs to relax, and knives to cook.  And even guns to hunt. 
 

Anyone who tries to restrict what a process can be used for is really trying to restrict people.  Art can move masses to tears of joy through a deep spiritual message.  Art can help me to relax and shed the stress of my busy day.  Art can convey the most sublime of messages, the most mundane, or the most base. 

Keep this firmly in mind, when people start trying to restrict art by defining what art is or isn’t they are really trying to restrict people.  They are trying to force you to believe what they believe.  Being in a free society means everyone makes their own choices, so long as they don’t hurt others or restrict the choices of others.

That also means each practitioner of art has the right to “restrict” themselves.  They, and only they, can and should decide what message they wish to convey.  It’s their message.  And every member of the audience has the freedom to not listen. 

If that message brings me closer to God, if that message leaves me in awe of the natural world, if that message simply makes my home a more inviting place, or if that message makes me laugh, they are all on equal footing.  They are all valid forms of art, each using a common process to achieve a different goal.

Author Destiny Allison writes, “Art is the process of relationship.  Through art we create and share ourselves.”  The point to emphasis there is art as a process of creation, creating a relationship and creating the artist at the same time.  Only the individual artist can decide what meaning to convey with their art.  If the audience doesn't like it, they are free to leave.

There is one final, glaring question that comes to mind with statements like “higher purpose.”  It's not, "what exactly is a higher purpose?"  It's not, what’s “high enough?” 

 

Who decides?