What Art Means to Me

Art Appreciation Essay By definition, art is 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. In simpler terms, art is what we find to be pleasing to our senses. In my opinion, art does not have a true definition. Its definition is different for all of us. To me, art is a way for one to express themselves. Each piece of art means something different for every one of us. Just because we don’t understand a particular piece does not mean that it’s not considered art in society. We can all appreciate a nice photograph or painting, but we may disagree on whether or not it is art. I see art in nature, photography, drawings and even in the things we see in every day life. Just because something is considered art, does not necessarily that we as an individual consider it art for ourselves. We may not find beauty in certain pieces of art that everyone else may like. For example, while a painting such as Picasso’s Seated Bather is considered art, I do not see it as beautiful. I can respect it as a work of art in general, but it does not speak to me, nor do I find it to be beautiful.
One of my most favorite works of art is Vincent Van Gogh’s Starry Night. I love Van Gogh’s use of symbolism and his expressive use of color and color scheme. While I do enjoy paintings, photography is my favorite art medium. As an aspiring photographer myself, I find comfort in photographs as opposed to paintings and they tend to speak to me a little more. Some of my favorite photographers include Ansel Adams, Uta Barth, Sally Mann, David LaChapelle, and Zach Mazur. Each of these artists are very different from each other, yet I enjoy each of their styles. My least favorite type of art is probably sculpture. I am not real sure as to why this is, I just don’t seem to identify as well with sculptures and I haven’t ever really taken much interest in them. Anything is capable of becoming art. I think that something becomes art once it is accepted by society as being such. It must invoke some sort of emotion within others and hold meaning to us. While each of us has our own idea of what is considered to be good art, and what is bad art a lot of times monetary value plays a big part in determining quality. Art could be determined as being “good” or bad” based on a set of standards that professionals and experts in the field of art set, but I believe for the most part, good and bad art is based largely on opinion. Art is completely subjective to the viewer. We as a society determine good and bad art for ourselves, not for the entire population.