I honestly have not formulated an opinion on these little questions yet. But I was flicking through some philosophy and came across aesthetics. So I decided to dip in. So my questions to everyone are 'What is art?' and 'Does this apply to martial art?' Cheers, Alexander
Hmm i think the best starting block for a philosophical study of art, is William Wordsworth's Preface. While its obviously chronologically not the start, it outlines a distinct view of the artist, and then you can make a judgement as to where you fall in relation to his view. Making the whole thing a little eaiser to digest.
Art as far as im concearned is anything. Keats said that Art should be Art for Arts sake. He was basically saying that art should have to serve no other purpose than that of being art. I kind of agree with this, but i imagine my definition of art is a bit different to his. Art is anything that occurs weather on purpose or not. For me painting a picture is no more art than walking down a road. Life is art, and art reflects life.
One of those things that can't be defined because it has a different meaning for most people. If you define art in terms of creativity, then it's probably limited to the few who have mastered their MA and able to innovate.
Creative expression of the "artist" freely through any medium. So long as the object in question (A poem, a drawing, a scultpure, a play, etc.) is the free creative expression of whoever made it, I'd say it was art. Freedom is important - I don't believe that tracing over pictures is art, because by choosing to make an exact copy of something you've taken all freedom of expression out of the equation. It must be creative expression, in that it communicates emotion or thought or imagery, that it comes from and appeals to the imagination. This is why something like an instruction manual for building a bookshelf wouldn't be art, because there is no creativity in it, and you're certainly not expressing yourself in any way, it is simply a functional text that does not come from nor appeal to one's imagination. My thoughts on this subject are still unrefined, so I'm open to criticism.
Instead of asking "what is art?" you should be asking "who are you?" Perhaps this is a bit trite, but is for a reason. I think that art is honostly expressing yourself. Bruce Lee, perhaps one of the greatest martial ARTISTS, gave a great interview on this selfexpression through martial arts. he said, and this isn't the exact quote, "It is easy for me to show you something fancy to impress you and be filled with an air of cockiness. But to express oneself honostly, whithout lying to oneself... now that, my friend, is very hard to do." For me, that summs it all up.
That sums it all up? It doesn't say what art actually is, it doesn't specify how or when one is expressing themselves, and it certainly doesn't explain how you express yourself in the martial arts. I don't see why "who am I" is supposed to answer "what is art" unless of course art is what I am. I don't think I am art though, so answering who I am isn't going to answer what art is, unless of course I am art. If that was the case, you should have just said "art means people".
If art is in the eye of the beholder then its obviously subjective. Though could one person's decision on aesthetic value be better than another's if the person had more experiance? (In other words, is a good judgement on art one that comes from an experianced critic?)
Yes, art is obviously subjective. So is religion. But saying "who am I" answers "what is religion" would be pretty ridiculous, as much as thinking it answers "what is art".
A summary of Aesthetics (completely forgot about Stanford - Venrix's post reminded me): http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/aesthetic-judgment/
I think that the Ancients were right to think that artists (playwrights, etc.) were inspired by some sort of daemon, beyond rational thought. The creative process is amazing to me, and I think that William Golding (an author) did a good job summarizing when he said that he didn't want to know how the creative process worked because he was deathly afraid that he would wake up one day and it wouldn't work. I think that Art is something that tries to make Beauty, and I personally want to make one beautiful thing in my life- just one. I don't think that this Art is the same as Martial Arts, but that is just my gut reaction.
