What is Art? (Guess what…nobody knows!)

What is Art? •

As we begin this course, focused on Integrating the Arts across ALL areas, it’s important for us to make a decision about what the term “art” means to us.

What is Art? •

In this slideshow, we’ll explore art. First, we’ll take a chronological look at a sampling of art from 540,000 years ago through today.

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Next, we’ll examine quotes about the meaning of art from some of the most well-known artists of recent times.

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Finally, at the conclusion of this slideshow, I’ll give you my definition of art.

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After this slideshow, please scroll down your screen for another activity and an opportunity to define what art means to you.

A look at art through the ages…

This is the oldest artifact of art ever discovered. 540,000 years ago, an ancient ancestor of modern humans took a shark tooth and carefully carved a geometric engraving on a mollusk shell.

These are earliest known paintings by humans, dating back 35,000 years.

Cueva de las Manos (Spanish for Cave of Hands) is a series of caves located in the province of Santa Cruz, Argentina. The hand-art in the cave dates from 13,000 to 9,000 years ago.

“Laocoon and His Sons” is an Ancient Greek Marble Sculpture from 25 BC.

Nearly 1,000 life-sized, clay figures have been excavated from the 2,000-year-old tomb of an ancient Chinese emperor since the site was discovered in 1974, but experts believe the tomb may contain as many as 7,000 more of the statues.

This Warrior Figurine from present day Mexico, was created in 1325. It is made of a gold-silver-copper alloy.

“Fountain” is a 1917 work produced by Marcel Duchamp. The piece is an actual porcelain urinal, which was signed "R.Mutt" and titled “Fountain”. It eventually sold for $1,185,000 at a New York Auction.

N.C. Wyeth, 1922, The Giant Oil on Canvas, 6’ X 10’

The Treachery of Images, 1928, is an oil painting by the Belgian surrealist painter, René Magritte. The translation of the script in the painting is: “This is not a pipe.”

Diego Rivera, 1931, The Uprising Fresco, 6’ X 8’

Chuck Close, 1967, Big Self-Portrait Acrylic Paint on Canvas, 9’ X 7’

Kehinde Wiley, 2008, Femme Piquée par un Serpent Oil on Canvas, 8.5’ X 30’

Andy Goldsworthy, 2013, Actual yellow Sycamore leaves arranged around the roots of a Sycamore Tree and photographed

What is Art? • This

is a questions that does not have one answer. Actually, it depends who is being asked the question…

The Dictionary Definition •

According to the Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary, the definition of Art is: something that is created with imagination and skill and that is beautiful or that expresses important ideas or feelings.

“Art is the marriage of the conscious and the unconscious.” -Jean Cocteau

Leo Tolstoy •

Leo Tolstoy was a Russian writer who is often regarded as one of the greatest authors of all time. In Tolstoy's book, What is Art, written in 1897, Tolstoy explains art as anything that communicates emotion. He goes on to explain that in the act of creating art, the artist must experience the feeling which he/she intends to convey through their art.

Marina Abramović (born November 30, 1946) is a Serbian performance artist based in New York. Her work explores the relationship between performer and audience, the limits of the body, and the possibilities of the mind. This performance piece called, “The Artist Is Present”, was a 736-hour and 30-minute static, silent piece, in which she sat immobile in the museum's atrium while spectators were invited to take turns sitting opposite her in silence.

Andy Warhol •

Andy Warhol, an American artist who was a leading figure in the American art movement known as pop art, said, “Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art.”

Banana, 1966, Screen-print, Andy Warhol

Mark Chagall •

Mark Chagall, a Russian-French artist, said that "Art is the unceasing effort to compete with the beauty of flowers – and never succeeding."

Over the Town, 1918, Oil on Canvas, Marc Chagall

Pablo Picasso •

Picasso said, "We all know that Art is not truth. Art is a lie that makes us realize truth."

Guernica is a 1937 mural-sized oil painting on canvas by Spanish artist, Pablo Picasso. The painting, which uses a palette of gray, black, and white, is considered by some as one of the most moving and powerful anti-war paintings in history.

Federico Fellini

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And Federico Fellini, an Italian film director, said that, "All art is autobiographical; the pearl is the oyster's autobiography."

Paul Klee •

Paul Klee, a Swiss-German Painter from the early 1900's said, “Art does not reproduce the visible; rather, it makes visible."

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He also said that a "A line is a dot that went for a walk."

Fish Magic, 1925, Paul Klee, Oil on Wood Panel

Laurence Muleh’s Definition of Art (for now): In my mind art is always open-ended and a work of art has infinite meanings to both the creator and the viewer. Art is an expression, a creation, a communication from within. When I cook dinner with my toddler, it's art. When I spend months on an oil painting, it's art. When I spend year’s illustrating a book, it’s art. When I hum a tune or dance with my wife, it's art. I know that when I create, I feel wonderful, curious, open, empathic, sustained, creative, and connected to deeper parts of myself.

A white pencil on black paper drawing by one of my students at Maui High School

Marker on Paper, by my three-year-old daughter

My three-year-old daughter making art

An pen & ink illustration that I did for a book cover in 2000

A drawing that I made for my daughter when she was born on Maui in 2012

The clothing company called “Maui Dad” that I built around that drawing, and as a celebration of fatherhood on Maui

An oil painting that I completed in 2015

My first published children’s book (2015). I created it for my daughter because she was so curious about eggs.

A sculpture made of recycled materials that I made for my daughter

Me and my daughter making mud art

What is art to you? Is it hanging on a wall in a museum? Is it the illustrations from your favorite children's book? Is it a doodle that you created while listening to a boring lecture? Is it exploring creativity through a lump of play dough with you child? Consider this presentation and please watch at least one of the videos below. Each video below documents a contemporary artist discussing their process and what art means to them. In the comment section below the videos, please post a comment and answer the question: What is art to you?