What Does Art Mean to You?
“Every artist dips his brush in his soul and paints his own nature into his paintings.”
-Henry Ward Beecher
Art is defined as the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as a painting or sculpture. (Oxford Dictionaries) When posed the question ? I honestly have never thought about it. When I think of art like most people.
My mind instantly goes to thoughts of pictures, sculptures, or paintings, but art is not confined to just those spectrums. Art can be clothes, music, poetry, makeup, and even hair. Art is whatever you view it as in your mind. Thinking of what it means to me in that perspective I realized how I utilize different forms of art to express myself daily and I am an artist.
Applying makeup is a hobby I took up in high school, but I never considered it art. Whenever you apply makeup you always start with a fresh, clean face similar to a blank piece of paper. I love the way your face can take on a different look just from the application of different colors and hues. I love to use vibrant colors and I love the way makeup looks on black skin. From an artist’s perspective, the face is my canvas and the makeups I utilize or my mediums. When I am done I have created a walking work of art.
Appearance is something I have always taken pride in, but I never considered it to be a form of art. The way you style your clothes gives the outside world a taste of who you are without using words. My clothing choice can also allude to my mood or attitude. If I wear black although I may not be in a bad mood it can give the non –verbal communication that I am depressed or stressed depending on the individual’s interpretation.
Your clothing can speak for you and just like art everyone views it differently. I may think I am a fashionista, but to another eye, I may look trashy or mix-matched. However, it is my own individual style and my way of fashionably defining me.
The process of putting together an outfit is similar to a picture being painted and the canvas is your body. Art involves creativity and thinking outside the box. The way that you wear or style hair is a way of expressing your individuality as well. I have seen hairstyles that have looked like sculptures, faces, and even shapes. Hairstyles are another non-verbal form of communication that allows you to creatively express yourself and gives the hairstylist a canvas to display their work of art.
“A painter paints pictures on canvas. But musicians paint their pictures on silence.”
-Leopold Stokowski
Music is a universal form of art that everyone inadvertently uses. Music for me provides a way to express myself through multiple channels. Regardless of how I may feel on the inside it can always be explained or expressed through music. Music tells a story the same as a painting or sculpture. The interpretation is dependent on the individual and how they receive it, but it gives everyone a voice.
There are a variety of music genres and music has no political or national barriers. You can be American, Japanese or Chinese; although we may speak different languages we can still express ourselves through the art of music which is universal. Music can derive from poetry, another form of art.
Poetry is defined as a type of literature that attempts to get the readers to think outside of the box and tap into their imagination or emotions. (Britannica)
Poetry is art in word form it is meant to bring emotion out of readers and listeners and deliver a specific message. As with all forms of art your interpretation of the literature is what it means to you. What one person may consider great poetry may not be the same for another individual. After gaining a better understanding of art I realized that art is a broad range of definitions and it is defined how the individual that is viewing it sees it.
No one looks through the same eyes so our thoughts and feelings of what we see will always be different. I may look at a painting and think it is beautiful but to another eye, it may be hideous. I may see a bird playing in the sky and someone else could see a plane flying over clouds.
Just because we may not see the art from the artist’s point of view does not make it any less art. Art does not have a true definition it is totally up to the person viewing the art to find their own emotion or meaning behind the art and no answer is wrong. It can be beautiful, painful, colorful, musical, and emotional.
