What makes something art?

what is art that's easy I know what art is right this is art and this is art and this and this too easy but is this art or how about this or this is getting complicated let's see here art is the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination so cool that's that Bell but wait imagination art has to showcase creative skill and imagination so does that mean that this photograph is an art it's well composed it to create a skill but no one imagined it okay this is easy to fix art is the expression application of human creative skill or imagination but wait what's a creative skill I create to-do lists have to be skilled to some degree in a language to do that does that mean this checklist as art it's not really but then what makes this poem any different they're both just lines of text often slightly grammatically incorrect and poems are art right I think what sets it apart from other human creations is that it satisfies their senses music is for ears paintings and sculptures for our eyes artisan experience but had to make everything art there's not much a human being can know or understand what the having first experienced it through our senses and back to poems we experience that through sight but it's not exactly a visual wonder it's more internal so this sense this thing doesn't really work okay wait I got it art is the expression or application of human creative skill or imagination that makes the audience feel something for me out on this the difference between a checklist and a poem is that it produces feelings a song can be sad it can make you feel energized happy jumps make you laugh cry or smile or worry it's all about emotions all right makes us feel and think in a way that it's checklist just can't but nature can make you relax make me happy make me upset and it's not exactly art but a photograph of my view of nature is because art is human creative skill or imagination it's the expression or relay of experiences and emotions from one person to another but does that mean that this photograph taken by a different primate is not our the law says it's not even worthy of copyright but it feels like art or maybe it is perhaps for art to be art there has to be an intent a goal the monkey didn't know he was taking the photo there was no intent if I accidentally spilled a bucket of paint on my carpet it's not art but if I put blobs of paint down with the intent of creating something so maybe that's what our definition should be art is the purposeful expression or application of human creative skill or imagination that makes the audience feel something a stick shelter that's just large enough to protect you from the rain isn't art but when you make something greater than that even just a larger than necessary stick shelter then you have made art you've gone above and beyond to purposefully make yourself or another feel safer happier and better that's what makes architecture art because they're more than simple tools they make us feel something but then we're back where we started anything can make us feel anything these both cells completely different stories they express different things that make the audience feel differently but are they are art versus design this distinction also feels pretty simple on the surface art is art however we decide to define it and design is art but with a practical purpose this is a painting makes us feel something this is a design that also makes us feel something but also allows us to achieve the goal of selling our product this sculpture is art this building is design it has a function but it's wait what about parables or all stories for that matter literature films music the themes within them there are to make us feel something on purpose but their themes also the definite goal changing the way that we act just like an ad and we covered this design can be art something can be both but I wouldn't call a cylindrical field design I just call it art I think art when it has a practical purpose beyond simple expression has to have a focus on the emotions it builds sympathy and empathy and understanding for a cause or issue or focusing on an experience design focuses on functional details it spreads understanding is useful in practice an anti-war painting builds sympathy army enrollment propaganda because their call to action and though it uses human emotions to make its point it's focused on information okay back to art I still have a few more questions like is dancing part acting playing the piano sure they are but it's not exactly a creative skill it's the expression of art and a dancer an actor a pianist are all artists in their own right but they're different we have a word for this performance art a playwright as a creative artist they made the story actors or performing artists they're the ones expressing the art and sometimes it can be both different actors can create different arts and their varying performances a directors work the performance of a script but they're also creating what will come to form its expression a choreographer is a creative artist to a performing artist also an athlete so our all athletes artists certainly the ones that need to be scored by judges are but it's messy scoring a goal art we certainly talked about it like that the heir to football the art of fishing the art of jogging this use of the word art is related to probably based on our definition of art but I think it's being used as an entirely different word here refers to the craft and the knowledge and skill and experience of the individual working in that craft if an accountant is called an artist it's because the word art is being used in relation to class the elite skilled rich class experiences art only the best of the best could have art it speaks to the care and detail of the worker but it's entirely different in the way we're using the word here something can only be art when it's good art in this context it's synonymous with quality but for us here art is not a metaphor a descriptive now it's a thing in its own right that are still art you can't say something isn't art no matter how much you don't like it art is subjective for there to be art at all there has to be bad art things don't live in a vacuum it can't exist with other opposites otherwise they wouldn't exist at all you wouldn't know as daytime this night never came because with everyone super no one will be our to exist on a spectrum this macaroni crayon scribble piece of garbage is just as much art as Michelangelo's David troll too is no less a movie than Citizen Kane and therefore is no less a piece of art so when you're sitting on your break drying stick figure comic strips you're just as much of an artist as da Vinci just not as good a whole lot worse actually but again that's subjective and it's near impossible to compare two paintings and see which one is better is Mass Effect better than Mario Galaxy you can't really say sure they're the same medium but they're inherently different they have their own entirely different merits so how do you know when art is good that I think jwg solution suits us best yet he has three questions to use when examining art and they actually apply to almost any human endeavor what was the goal did they achieve it and was it worth it instead of comparing the beast every single other piece that came before it like most rating systems to those questions force us to examine the Eric for what it really is relative to only itself you may not think that Jackson Pollock's work took anywhere near the amount of skill as van Gogh's work but that doesn't matter they're different what was the goal to represent the world and experiences I was the use of physical forums did they achieve it yes was it worth it yeah I took abstracting the real into art to another playing field did something new when 2001 a Space Odyssey was released it was largely laughed at by critics it was a horrible narrative film it didn't meet standards and compared to other great films with a total failure but using go three questions what was the goal he kept saying I want to change the form I want to make a movie that changes the form did they achieve it promote movie goers and aspiring marvelling filmmakers yes it changed the game for Kubrick himself and I said we didn't sure there were 2001 he said just a little bit but not enough I really want to change the form was it worth it yes the versatility of ghosts questions are near endless and it almost makes you reconsider this whole process of defining art does the definition really matter when we can instead focus on the value and merit of incredible human works whether or not their art I'm not sure but I'll leave you with one final question is this video [Music]

Channel: Messmer's Musings

Views: 170,998

Keywords: josh messmer, messmer's musings, messmersmusings, video essays, what is art, what makes arts good, how to rate art, how to rate movies, movie ratings, good art, film, movies, cinema, video games, are video games art, music, lyrics, paintings, sculptures, michelangelo, davinci, van gogh, jackson pollock, fine art, examining art, understanding art

Id: vV2cc_fFgmA

Length: 7min 50sec (470 seconds)

Published: Fri May 26 2017