The Concept of Art
What does art entail?
What constitutes something artful?
Is art the glamour of intellectual repose, the sparkling façade of self-examination?
Is art merely a mirror through which humans view themselves, choosing to see the things they find most poignant?
To catch someone convincing his or herself that he or she is prepared to face the world and perhaps, just once, conquer-this trick must be art. More than mirroring the emotion of the subject, this kind of display invokes the imagination of the observer.
Art should be more than a glimpse into the deeper emotion and thinking of the subject (or the human/divine elements of the subject’s existence, for that matter) and, instead, blankness – an emptiness begging to be filled by the conjecture of those who choose to look.
Art, to many, is a self-asserting presence; it is designed to be appealing and thence it generates appeal, but art can be more overwhelming when it is considered an unwilling participant in the observation; it wishes to hide itself from the spectator and will only share its true and highly subjective meaning with the unabashed seeker.
We need only exist in a world full of opposing forces, of conflicts and short-lived resolutions, to appreciate the trick.
