What is Art For?
Door
The question at first glance seems silly, as in, “If you have to ask, you ain’t ever gonna know,” to paraphrase Louis Armstrong. But even if one is comfortable with one’s own practice, it’s still a useful question once in a while.
Particularly if you think art is just self-expression or decoration, because then you will be missing the majority of the important significant art projects on display every year.
The two important things to realize is that painting is in a minority of the important work being done. Secondly, art does not have to be in a frame or on a pedestal to qualify as art.
Other than self-expression or decoration, what else is art for? Art for some is transformative. That is, some artists are prompted by the desire to elevate the minds and hearts of viewers, even if only for a few minutes. Both approach and subject matter change with such an approach. High Renaissance art, as found in the work of Da Vinci et al, commissioned by the Church, or the artists who created the extraordinary mosaic tiles in the mosques of Isfahan, Fes, and Granada, are traditional examples. But the art does not have to be religious. Paintings by Mark Rothko, Mark Tobey, Hilma af Klint, Wassily Kandinsky, among others, are all great transformative artists of the twentieth century. Their work is primarily not about their own mood and reaction to events.
Art can also be radical action. Some artists see the strength of art as motivating others to political action or protest. Kara Walker, Tracey Emin, Al Weiwei, Banksy are all artists who are motivated mostly by protest. They don’t give a hoot about showing some attractive image from Nature. That doesn’t mean that these artists demean such art, only that they choose to use their creative gifts to change present circumstances.
Art can be education. One of the roots of the word education is taken from Latin and means “to lead from the darkness into the light.” Artists who want to teach us something about Nature and ecology or about History can do so without lecturing. Using the means afforded by Art they can create participatory projects that teach through doing, feeling, intuiting, and understanding. Such artists include Mark Dion, Todd McGrain, Jane Poitras, and Rachel Rosenthal, among many.
Art can be entertainment. That is, the methods and strategies adopted by the artist involve multi-media, digital creation, video, theatrical large-scale effects, for the purposes of entertainment, but also satire and evocation of wonder. Examples include Maurizio Cattelon, Judy Chicago, Alex Da Corte, Takashi Murakami, Mike Kelley, Jeff Koons, and Olafur Eliasson.
Art can be for healing purposes. Not art therapy, but art whose process and product are carefully selected to have some healing effect on those in need. Healing art can be found in hospitals and hospices, though not all art in hospitals is necessarily “healing art.” Examples of such artists include Beth Ames Swartz, Gilah Yelin Hirsch, and Gina Halpern.
Art can be to create an accurate historical record. Artists such as Walton Ford, Kehinde Wiley, Edward Burtynsky , Jeff Wall have used painting and photography to create a record either of the present moment or of an aspect of Nature no longer in existence.
Each one of these “types” of art could use a long essay just to introduce it. Today you are being offered a single grape, so to speak, but maybe it is enough to get the idea that art is an enormous field and cannot be boxed into some stereotypical concept. Art is never about all the approaches just presented. But there is nothing preventing any artist from choosing the direction he or she wants to follow. There is only habit and preference. If you love what you are doing, the question never even arises.