For thousands of years, art has been used to express cultures, beliefs and emotions. It can also be an important form of storytelling. Today, we use art in many different ways to share our ideas and create a sense of belonging. But what exactly is art?
In the past, most people defined art as a craft – something you excelled at by practice. Then, with Romanticism and the birth of individualism, it came to mean originality. And with Modernism, it was all about re-examining art and its potential.
Today, most people define art in terms of its aesthetic value – how pleasing or enjoyable it is to look at. But it’s not only a matter of beauty, says the cluster theory. It’s about a way of grasping the world – not just the physical, but also the human world and spiritual experience.
Creating art is an activity that can help us see the world in new ways. It can make us feel joy, sadness, anger or happiness. It can help to improve mental health and wellbeing, and even relieve pain. Art can have a profound effect on our emotions and our lives, and it is important to understand its role in society.
One of the most important things to know about art is that its meanings change with time and context. Art reflects the philosophies, ideas and societal issues of its time, and it changes in response to these changing philosophies. This is why there are so many different definitions of what constitutes an artwork.
Some philosophers argue that a definition of art must be ‘rigorously defined’ and contain a set of conditions. Others, however, say that this is impossible because the concepts we use to define art are organic and constantly evolving. They are not like words that can be logically fixed in a dictionary. Instead, they are more like ideas that have a certain meaning but can continue to evolve as we grow and change.
Other philosophers take a more pragmatic approach and say that we can only try to capture the essence of an artwork by looking at how it has been interpreted over time. They then claim that it is possible to find family resemblances or strands of similarity linking together very different works as being art.
Scientists are increasingly interested in understanding how we perceive art. They believe that the process of experiencing art is linked to an area of the brain known as the hippocampus. This region is associated with memory and learning, and it is thought that the artistic experience triggers the release of a chemical called oxytocin, which is a hormone that promotes bonding, approach-to-the-other and trust in social interactions. This explains why we might be attracted to the colours, shapes and rhythms of an artwork. It also explains why some people are more attracted to a particular piece of art than another. It is this emotional connection that makes art so important and meaningful.