What is Art?

ANDROMEDA HEIGHTZ BLOG:
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'Art is everything...everything is Art'

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Art is always what people want it to be, it is not a question of consensus; everyone does not have to share a single view on what it is. Art can be described in many ways, a mastery of craftsmanship, a universal ideal of beauty, or perhaps as the material art object, yet to others art is seen as the process itself instead of a tangible artwork.
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But what is Art? It is more commonly understood to be 'the process or result of making material works, or artworks which from concept to creation adhere to creative impulse.'
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May be it is Craft (meaning technical skill, proficiency of some sort), or possibly a recognized flare or personal style (individuality that enriches), the acknowledgment of a practice or the act of the communion itself. Or even works which are accepted in the historic canon or manifest artistic temperament or tradition.
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Art as imitation harks back to Plato. At some period in the history of art, people conceived art as if nature should be recorded by the artist with photographic fidelity. The invention of photography (which can do this better than any painter?) could plausibly be said to have relieved the artist of any such responsibility.
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The view of art as representation was then to be replaced by the idea of art as expression. The distinctive expressionist view of artistic creation is the product of the Romantic Movement, according to which the creation of art is based on the expression of feelings. Instead of reflecting states of the external world, art is held to reflect the inner state of the artist. This, at least, seems to be implicit in the core meaning of "expression": the outer manifestation of an inner state.
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‘Art for art's sake, not art for life's sake’ is the watchword of formalism. Art is there to be enjoyed for the perception and by means of its intricate and complex form, rather than an emphasis on content or meaning. Formalism's right hand is aestheticism, which defends that the main function of art is, to produce and elicit pleasure, it informs and instructs, represents and expresses, but first and foremost it must please.
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Many people believe that art as has a didactic function; a message; to instill a positive influence, whether moral, social or political because art implants in people unconventional ideas; or breaks the molds of provincialism; or disturbs and antagonizes (since it tends to emphasize individuality rather than conformity). This is an activist ‘Art’ that does not promote a ‘positive’ moral influence and is received by the moralist with growing suspicion. For the moralist, art has the force to undermine beliefs and attitudes that are fundamental for his or her view of a good society.
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It's been said that art is a means to the acquisition of truth. Art has even been called the avenue to the highest knowledge available to man (and to a kind of knowledge impossible of attainment by any other means). Knowledge in the most usual sense of that word takes the form of a proposition, knowing that so-and-so is the case. Is knowledge acquired in this same sense from acquaintance with works of art? The question is whether there is anything that can be called truth or knowledge (presumably knowledge is of truths, or true propositions) that can be found in works of art.
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There is also the belief that art should be a repository for proverbial wisdom, ancient superstition, sentimental theme, or for religious depiction or dogma, and of the opinion that Art should accompany and celebrate what is embedded in the life of an individual and community: within ceremonies,’ baptisms, marriages, funerals, anniversaries, sowings, reapings, and the daily routine of work; art of the every day. Vernacular art becomes the soul of the people.
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Since the birth of humanity we have our dance to the hunted animals, chants to the rain Gods, magical paintings on stone, myths told and retold over the proverbial tribal fire – all are stories, journeys that bind us to our beliefs, to our World, threads that weave us through time and place, it is in this place where art and ritual are as one that I find myself.
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It is to me the pigment, fabric and framework of our very existence, the root to self discovery, a reflection of spirit both human and more than human. It is an understanding and glorifying of the inner essence of its subject. I believe it is the connection of vision to the invisible, spirit to the physical, fostered by our own hands and mixed on the palette of life.
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WHAT is Art to you...?

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Artist or Shaman: http:http://andromeda-heightz.blogspot.com/
Do You Beleive in God: http://andromeda-heightz.blogspot.com/
What is Art: http://andromedaheightzblog.blogspot.com/
Fight for the Forest: http://andromedaheightz.blogspot.com/
Wish For The Woodland: http://andromedaheightz-awishforthewoodland.blogspot.com/
Who is Disabled? http://andromedaheightzdisandabled.blogspot.com/
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