Art without purpose is... well, it isn’t art!

Let me preface this by saying that I am by no means an "expert" in what art is and isn't. I don't have any degrees in it whatsoever, and the extent of my artistry usually ends somewhere in the zones of "school projects" and "gifts for friends/myself."

However, that being said, I do still have expereince with art. I am an artist, just like any other people who have submitted a peice onto this website, have made an orignal drawing or painting, have sung in the shower and changed the notes or a key for a song- whatever. Regardless of what some person with a degree says you are an artist. Anybody can be an artist, and art is really, REALLY easy to make!

Now, that being said, GOOD art is a whole other story! It's a subjective term, based upon peronal emotions and past expereinces, it's based on personal interpretation of the meaning both as an artist and as an audience member, and it's really what i like to describe as "wishy-washy" at best.

So, review- anyone can be an artist, and that's because making art is really easy... BUT, making good art is hard, it's complicated and requires creativity, innovation, technique and skill- it's complicated, "wishy-washy", remember? So then why is art without purpose NOT art? Let me walk you through it.

Both Oxford and Merriam-Webster's dictionaries describe art as "Art is a diverse range of human activities in creating visual, auditory or performing artifacts (artworks), expressing the author's imaginative, conceptual ideas, or technical skill, intended to be appreciated for their beauty or emotional power."

What I gather from that is that, regardless of the reason for making it, you've got to just that- a reason. Art, true art, isn't just made for the hell of it. There is a reason to th artist as to why they're making the art, whether it's a concious or sub-concious thought process that's occuring.

Architects don't just design a building because "it's a building", they do it to provide shelter, to meet certain needs, and to fulfill a contract's desires at the bare minimum. When you doodle in class or a buisness meeting (don't get caught now!) you're not just doing it "because you're bored", well, you sorta are! But it's more because what's going on in your head is more interesting than what's happening around you.

Think about what specifically you're drawing next time, or maybe if you're a vocalist think about why you sing the notes a certain way and why you like that song. Writer's, we have it easy, just read the words you're writing! There is meaning in all of these things, and as long as you're consciously aware of this or you're using techniques while you do it, then you're making art.

So, can anything even be considered not art?? YES! When you wake up, when you make cereal, when you talk to friends/family, when you go walking or to the gym- those are just mundane tasks that you're doing because of obligation. Art is a hobby, a luxary even. It isn't required to live, but makes living valuable.

So when I see "art" peices such as Onement by Barnett Newman, Blood Red Mirror by Gerhard Richter, Concetto spaziale, Attese by Lucio Fantano, Untitled (1970) by Cy Twombly, Untitled (Stoffbid) by Blinky Palermo, Orange, Red, Yellow by Mark Rothco, Untitled (1961) by Mark Rothco, Untitled (Blue and Yellow) by Mark Rothco, and so many more blank or solid-color canvasas with nothing more than a signular line or a singular block of color sprinked in somewhere.

What's even worse is that, as you could see, even the titles were unispired! I mean, how many times can you simply refuse to name a peice of art and pawn it off for millions (looking at you Mark Rothco)! Oh, and you read correctly, they're selling these things off for millions of dollars. I'm not critiquing the entirety of the modernism field of art, nor the postmodernism, but I am criticising the lack of a message or meaning within a peice of art.

Typically the point of modernism or postmodernism was to serve as a critique against the standards of art, but you also have to understand that those critiques were warranted for the time period. Like i said earlier, anything can be art, but not everything can be good art. Good art, and the value of all art, is a societal construct whcih changes with the times. What's happening here though is that the minority of the world, the very upper echelons of wealth and prosparity, are simply throwing money at "art" due to the idea of gaining respect and praise from association with the owning of the work.

The problem doesn;t occur, however, until we remember that these "art works" are barely even that. When we allow peope in power to decide what's good and what's bad for us, it shifts the whole playing field. It changes what art gets made aftrwards, and what people strive to acheive. It influences societ as a whole. So having art that's "up for personal interpretation" or is "serving as a critique" yet holds no meaning or statment other than that isn't some level of grand and higher thinking- it's a scam. We're encouraging people to produce scams.

Now, perhaphs there is a message but it's just not clear to most people. Sure, but isn't an essential skill of any artist to be the translator or interpretor of an art peice? I know we're focused n painting right now, but think about books and literature. If someone wrote the next great work of literature, surpassing all of the greatest books you can think of, it wouldn't matter if it was written in a secrt coed noone could decipher. More practically, imagine it being written in such a confusing and verbose manner that what could've taken 1 page takes 10 and then multiply that per page.

This may seem dumb or pointless to most, but imagine if this seeped into other art like music, literature, architecture, even fashion. It already has been seeping into all of those art forms! I can't tell you how many fashion runway looks have become different variations on a bag, a bag people. Not a handbag, but a canvas or plastic bag stretched over the skin that people will throw thousands and millions of dollars at thanks to the name tied behind it.

Anyways, I'm truly sorry that this went on for so long. What was supposed to be about five paragraphs at most became so, so, so much longer than intended haha. Well, thanks for reading and hope you enjoyed!