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Covering topics in Nature, Technology and Culture


Art

What is art?

Art is essentially the products of human creativity (artists) and culture that does not need to be practically functional yet it has intentionality. Art that includes function for solving a problem is usually called design technology art.

When we think of art we are most often thinking of paintings or drawings. Art is about expressing a combination of an inner state or ability and the outside world or our own perceptions.

A famous lithograph called Ascending and Descending by M.C Escher (1898-1972) highlights how art can be used to present unusual combinations of lines to produce a paradox. (or impossible situation)

Whether something is art relies on interpretation, aesthetics (how it is pleasing or abhorrent to the senses) and context.

How much art can communicate can also be important in a definition. Guiding or confining of a process that is natural could be considered art also.

Here is an amusing explanation of the nature [imgur.com] of Art from the comic strip Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson.

Art is not for the cultivated taste. It is to cultivate taste. 

- Nikki Giovanni

A painting of Dancer with a Bouquet of Flowers by Edgar Degas . image: The York Project/ wikipedia

Some art forms combine a visual element with performance (e.g. film) and the written word (e.g. comics).

From prehistoric cave paintings to modern day films, art serves as a vessel for storytelling and conveying mankind's relationship with its environment.


Wikipedia notes that...

" The arts represent an outlet of human expression, usually influenced by culture, and driven by human creative impulse. Major constituents of the arts include:

  • Literature – including poetry, novels and short stories, and epics;
  • Philosophy - including epistemology, ethics etc
  • Performing arts – among them music, dance, opera, theatre and film; and
  • Visual arts – including , drawing, painting, photography and sculpting, ceramics.