ForumsArt, Music, and WritingWhat Makes Art "Art"?

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eunoic
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eunoic
50 posts
Nomad

I recently took an art class and there were many different opinions regarding this topic and who better to ask than the artists and creative minds of Armorgames?

For me art is something that you put a bit of yourself into. Something you really care about and is tangible in some way. However, I don't think this is a very good definition of what art is.

What are your thoughts AG?

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Reton8
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Reton8
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King

We're basically saying the same thing Reton. The reason why I say anything created is art is because everyone has their own idea on what art is. No one is wrong, so you have to include each person's idea.


Yeah, i kind of realized that when I was typing my post lol. I guess in my head though, there are things I classify as art and things I don't. As I grow older I appreciate more things as art, especially things people seem to look at not as art. Things like video game covers, movie posters, commercials, cereal boxes. It's odd stuff like that, but you realise someone had to create it, there was an artist behind it. I kind of use that stuff to study it and see how the pros do it lol.


However, what if the creator does not think what he/she has created is art, but other people do? Can it be art to individuals but not art to the creator?


That is funny you mention this, because I actually have thought the same thing. What happens if an artist makes a piece of art and then tells everyone it's not art? The whole act in itself seems to be artistic. it kind of is the opposite of most the strange modern artists who do some weird stuff, like sit in a chair for eight hours with an apple on their head and then they tell everyone it's art. Making something really beautiful and then saying it's not art would go against this new modern art. I bet someones done it already, hmm I wonder?
eunoic
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eunoic
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Nomad

@reton8

"Making something really beautiful and then saying it's not art would go against this new modern art. I bet someone's done it already, hmm I wonder?"

I noticed an example of the opposite of this phenomenon today at Subway!
They call their employees sandwich artists! I've never thought of a subway sandwich as art though.

Reton8
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Reton8
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King

They call their employees sandwich artists! I've never thought of a subway sandwich as art though.


Lol neither have I. It makes the job sound more interesting though hehe : ]
eunoic
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eunoic
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Nomad

I guess if I worked at subway I'd think of my job as art. Neatly placing the tomatoes oh so neatly and squirting the mayo on there in only so slightly squiggly lines...

BrounieMan
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BrounieMan
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Jester

Several companies do a similar thing so that people are distracted from how tedious and menial their jobs are. Which makes me very skeptical as to classifying anything I produce as art. I figure art is something for the observer to decide for themselves and quantifying it would cheapen what real art should be. That being said, I'm much less critical of other people because I accept that they may have well put a lot of thought and expression into their work that I just don't feel, so to speak.

Someone earlier said something along the lines of "Art is anything the creator calls art." But for me, it is the other way around. No one can create what they would call art, because they know exactly what they want it to mean. They aren't expanding their own thought.

It isn't until someone else looks at it, and sees that your idea or your perception of an idea is different, or perhaps that it is similar to the way they perceive a thing, even if it wasn't the original intention of the artist, that it can truly be called art.

thelastairbender1
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thelastairbender1
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Nomad

The 1st time i came across this topic and question I involuntarily said to myself, something in which you put a bit of yourself. I think anything you create, you tend to leave a personal touch and that itself makes a work an art.

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