When hunting around for a definition of Art, I return to the fact that, “all of life is Art”. Art is not any particular medium, it is more an attitude around how one lives. We all have choices in life concerning how we live our lives and what we value. Some may say that is more so for some than others, meaning the wealthy are presented with more choices than the poor. However, I would counter by saying that we all have the opportunity at some point in our lives to break free of our conditioning, especially in a country like Australia. We are not all made to be artists, it takes great courage to wrench free of one’s moorings and paddle out into unchartered waters.
People Without Common Sense & Modesty
Art in the public’s eye gets caught up with art sales and investments. They see the big-ticket items and scratch their heads in wonder at why someone would pay such huge amounts of money for daubs of paint on canvas or some such similarly adorned medium. The whole scene looks like the playtime of rich people, people without the common sense imbued by modesty. Philosophically, all of life is Art, because when you remove context out of all actions and events, all you are left with is Art. Context is only a temporary thing anyway, its life span is limited.
Arts & Crafts
For the vast majority of people their lives are governed by work and making a living. Art stands outside of this contextual framework, it is bigger and unattached to motivations born out of insecurity. Art can occur in the kitchen and on the plate. It may involve edible mediums like food in all its many forms and guises. Check out this information about kitchens, design and installations in Sydney. Arts and crafts, trades and artisans, they are all making art, when it comes down to it.
Modern Art?
Modern art and Postmodern art have been traditionally frowned upon by many working men and women. These genres have been seen as irreverent and disrespectful, throwaway, even. Well, we do live in a throwaway culture, and art reflects the values of its time, in many ways. I remember going to see a Chinese artist’s installation of used tampons gathered from women around the globe, all sitting there under a glass cabinet in the Western Australian Art Gallery. Many people felt uneasy about this installation, as art. Art, however, has no limits, because all of life is art.
