What is art?

 

I once saw in Valencia a graffiti that said “ Exhibit art directly on the streets. It's a way to break with the established roles.Who is adequate to exhibit in a gallery or not? Who establishes what is art and what is not? On the streets all is art.” I found this quote so interesting and I reflected upon what I saw. This was in 2018 and I still have the same passion about art. I think it is something we all share even if not in the same ways. Each one of us creates their own art. Maybe it is through painting,playing an instrument,cooking,writing,singing,dancing,etc. Art has so many forms. Art is when we do something that is passionate to us, something that is unique because we made it. We will first see what art is, the definition by the books and what is art to me, how I perceive it. Then I will mention my favourite art movements. Finally I will finish with the history and revolution of street  art.

There is even a way to define art? The oldest paintings ever found were 73 figures of wild boars and human hands at the Leang Tedogne cave in Indonesia. They date back 45 000 years ago. Before this recent cave painting founding, it was thought that the oldest paintings ever found were the ones from the Lascaux caves in France.They date around 20 000 years ago. We could say that art was born as a way to make our memories last, to make us last. 

 The Oxford dictionary defines art like :

 The expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power.

There are two key points to emphasize in this definition. Firstly,  art depends on human interaction. It is us who gave the form,the meaning,the beauty. Nature is beautiful and we contemplate beautiful landscaping. We can qualify like art, but there is something missing behind it and it´s the creator. There is not a creator of nature, out of religious or spiritual beliefs, from an objective point of view.Secondly that art is “ appreciated primarily for its beauty or emotional power”. Art is for the soul.

The word art comes from the latin “artem” which means skill. As a matter of a fact until the XVIII century the art and the technique were considered the same. The “ art” was more appreciated by their use in the concret word. For their utility in daily life. The artist and the artisan (craftsman) were considered the same, because the technique used to make the creations was acquired by studying and practising it. The creation was more of a mechanical process rather than a creative one. But how did this change happen? 

As I said in the XVIII century the change took place. It's the emergence of Fine arts which produced  the division between technique and art as Fine arts.

The craftsman who has the technique can manufacture beautiful items but it's a mechanical production. He knows what he is going to do exactly before getting started. In opposition the artist goes through a creative and spontaneous process. He builds his piece as he creates it.

Art is born from creativity,desire and dreams.

Art is full of opposition if we can say it like that. Each art movement opposes the former. Art is the reflection of that time social and political situation. With just an art piece you can discover much more than you ever imagine about that epoch. The history of Art is the history of human desire. If I talk about all the art movements I will never end, so I´m going to present to you my favorite ones.

Baroque art is the anthem of exuberance. It appeared at the Reformation epoch, where Catholics and Protestants were in a horrendous war. The Catholic Church encouraged  this art movement to represent religious scenes to support them during the Protestan contestation. Nevertheless the Baroque movement represents a wider variety of themes such as portraits or even mythical subjects. I love the chiaroscuro technique that created the illusion of volume and made the viewer the sensation he was part of the painting.

 

Judith slaying Holofernes - Artemisa Gentileschi

 

What I love the most about Surrealism is the idea and the creative process behind it. The artist challenges reality.What is reality?How can we be sure of it? They used automatic writing  and writing to unlock what was in their subconcious. 

          The Persistence of Memory-Salvador Dalí 

Romanticism emphasised the importance of emotions upon rationality , the individual subjectivity and the beauty and unpredictability  of nature, at times where the reason ruled the world. In fact Romanticism was born as a response to the Enlightenment that defended the idea of calm,order and rationality.

Il bacio,Francisco Hayez

Impressionism is without a doubt my favourite one.The paintings make me feel calm and travel to realities I´ve never been but somehow miss. The use of light colors and the looser brushwork wanted to represent the world as it is, beautiful and imperfect.

Woman with a parasol,Claude Monet

Water Lilies,Claude Monet

Street art is a form of revolution, but as I think is one of the greatest ones. Is the one who defies legality, the one who is exposed on the streets, the one who is ephemere and the one who has no owner. 

It englobes various ways of art: graffiti,stickers,street installation,stencils,tape art. Street art transmits a message, even if it starts as the reflection of the artist point of view it also resonates with people. This artistic work becomes part of the city, it belongs to anyone and to everyone. It's a shared visual experience that it´s transparent. The art is free, it's not behind the museums´s or gallery´s walls, it's next to a bakery or a  music store. It´s everywhere. What I love the most about street art is the variety and the authenticity. It brings so much beauty to the city walls and makes you desire to discover each corner of it to see more of the art work.

I was in Valencia last month and I loved a neighborhood called “El Carmen” where there are a lot of restaurants,little stores,second hand stores and a lot of street art. In brief it was a bohemian neighborhood. I want to share with you some of the art works that I loved the most because of the message they give.

“And if they don´t let you read?” It made me analyze our current situation. Where restrictions rule our lives. Where even in some countries like mine (Peru) there is a curfew, so you are not literally free to move. In the country where I live now (France) there is the “passe sanitaire”where you can´t enter restaurants,museums,theaters,etc if you are not vaccinated.

Personally I don't agree with these restrictions and the actual situation makes me sick, but I respect others opinions. However if we analyze the power of our societies and governments to control our lives(because basically that is living in a community and it's not necessary  bad, it's just the reality) it shouldn't surprise us the idea of being forbid to read one day.

“True beauty can´t being seen with the eyes”

A while ago I read a compilation of Socrates' dialogues and the Symposium from Platon. I loved one of the Socrate´s dialogues where he explained that terrenal things keep us away from divine things.That what is really important is inside us,is our soul. And that it's true beauty for me, the one you can´t see or touch but you can feel. The one you can't describe with a word or with a thousand. Beauty it's everywhere, it depends on who sees it.