Is It Art Essay

What is art? Every person has an individual response to an artwork which is determined through the collaboration between an individual and a specific artwork. If it contributes to your experience, as a consequence being symbolic of something, then it is probably art for you. It is therefore very problematic in order to supply a definition that comprises the whole world’s thoughts and feelings. Some believe that anything and everything in the world is art, while others believe that it takes aptitude, creativity, and an imagination to produce true art. Art can be a reflection of one’s idea brought into the world through painting, drawing, photography, sculpture, architecture, and many other ways. Artworks are determined and different according to an individual’s perceptions, beliefs, and ideas. To begin to decide what we like or dislike depends upon the subject matter of the work what it depicts and its contents, what the subject matter means, symbolizes, or radically opposes. Taking a trip in Washington, D. C. with my Uncle to Maya Lin’s Vietnam Memorial is an example of conflicting art. Many people viewed the monument as an insult to the memory of the very soldiers to whom it was supposed to pay honor. Depending upon an individual’s perspective, to be able to walk up out of the gentle slope out of the V, symbolizes for many the process of healing. The names chiseled in the wall, inflicts serious emotional feelings when you find the name of a loved one or a friend. Depending on how the light hits the polished granite it reflects first your own image back at you, as if to say that your life is what these names fought for. Just the sheer meaning of the fight for our freedom, lost lives there and psychologically even after returning state side, all for another’s life is symbolic art. Similarly is the lighted frog mosaic art lamp my mother purchased during a mother daughter scavenger hunt. At first sight it could be construed as the ugliest thing. Agreeing first glance or look it is ugly, does not fit, or have a particular purpose. Now, with second sight, added to the fact of mother passing, that same mosaic lighted lamp is the most beautiful piece of art. The symbolic emotional feelings of looking at the intertwined pieces of light blue pieces of glass at the base of the frog depict the water of its freedom. The different shades of green glass pieces of the frog make it representational. The black molding holding the glass pieces together give continuity, shape, and naturalistic features to the lamp, thus, creating the illusion that it is real. Lively color lastly conveyed to the interior of your home imparts the feeling of joy and love evoked with exceptional time spent between mother and child is symbolic of family love. Another art that is interpreted as representational would be tattoos. The shear pain from the needle into your body is permanent making it a work of art. The one drawn by their owner with underlying meaning can be the most symbolic than one drawn but the actual tattooist. To wear an angel on your skin can convey many underlying significances, yet to have a faceless angel portrays a deep meaning. Everyday millions of people come in contact with angels, whether it is a smile, kind word, motivation, helping hand, prayer, or assisting force in an individual’s daily life. Then to have the Chinese letters of eternal faith under that faceless angel can have various values. This is symbolic of having eternal faith that the world is surrounded by everyday angels forever. After all this said in conclusion I can say that art is surely not seen with open eyes, but with open minds. Minds open for absorption of painting, drawing, photography, sculpture, architecture, and many other ways. From the examples above, I can also say that art is also an act of giving a small part of you in order to express through the art piece. The portrait of Mona Lisa is not only a portrait of a woman is also a portrait of Leonardo’s need to express him through color, composition, and symbolic feelings of tranquility. When we are seeing the subject matter, we are not staring just a landscape, sculpture, or portrait; we are observing the artist’s needs and emotions reflected by the needs of society for art. Art can be symbolic whether it is representational, abstract, or nonobjective.