What is art? by Vas Paris

I return to this subject again and again. What is art? In broader sense it is any visual object. So t-shirt, carpet or post card is a form of art. The most common definition would be that art is decor. That is what an average person would call in interchangeable terms: art = decor.

A few days ago I was asked by a group of religious people to explain what art is. So I decided to form my own definition of art. Here it is Art is a form of communication. It is probably the last form of free communication that exists. Art is a form of exploring in the same way as a religion is a form of conforming. Religion and art are too opposite approaches to human interaction. When art is employed it is becoming a form of propaganda. When it is not exploring new ideas, angles, areas it becomes a décor. Only when artist is sponsored without any ties one has time, means and ability to explore. That is a reason Woody Allen works in Europe and not in Hollywood where studios always want to become co-authors. .

Further in conversation this group of people could come up only with one name of contemporary artists: Kinkade. Is an artist? In sense that chicken is a bird, Kinkade is an artist. Chicken does not fly but produce eggs. Kinkade creates images for a middle of America décor. And he is very skillful at what he does. He creates images that are pretty, sweet and very easy to understand. His technique is superb. The only thing that is missing - the art itself. The images do not present any exploration or communication. There is nothing to talk about looking at Kinkade's images other than how much money he makes selling pretty images to Americans.