Art can(not) be defined
written by Victoria Stepanets
Today, art impresses us with its diverse nature of applied techniques and subjects. It has reached a level of democratisation where anyone can create and present even the most unconventional works. However, such a wide range of art gradually blurs the concept of ‘art’ itself: if everything can be art, does Art still exist?
An art historian Ernst Gombrich argued that all creative activities can be called art “as long as we realise that Art with a capital A has no existence.” If we assume that he is right, then there are no differences between the works of an art student and of a Renaissance master. Both of them are just ‘art’.
An art educator Kenneth M.Lansing is convinced that art should be defined and asks her readers to “consider, for example, the fix that teachers of aeronautical engineering would be in if they didn't know what an airplane was.” In raising the necessity to rethink the concept of art today, Lansing highlighted the significant difference between meaningful works of representational art and ‘decorative’ abstract work, stressing that the former should be the primary focus of art education.
An independent scholar and art critic Michelle Marder Kamhi shared the same opinion, mentioning that “the notion of blurring the boundaries pervades the contemporary artworld. Virtually every prior distinction – from that between the fine and decorative arts, or crafts, to that between art and life itself – has been rejected.” In her view, “the breakdown of distinctions has resulted in total incoherence – both in artistic practice and in writing and thinking about art, and hence in art education.”
Disturbed by the indifference to, or rejection of, definitions of art in art education, Kenneth M.Lansing insisted that art “can and must be defined if we are to make any sense of what we do in the classroom.” Lansing suggested his definition of art as follows: “Visual art is the skillful presentation of concepts and/or emotions (ideas and feelings) in a form that is structurally (compositionally) satisfying and coherent.” This definition connects the skillful process to the finished product called a work of art. “That is because I don't believe they can be separated”, Lansing said. This is a starting point that should be emphasised. In our time of conceptual art, one gets the impression that skill and form take second or even third place. They become unimportant – often neglected, compensating with the deep meaning of the work – but can there be depth without skillfulness?
According to a British art critic John Ruskin, “all art worthy of the name is energy”. Notably, a German philosopher Immanuel Kant also mentioned ‘spirit’ and ‘aesthetic idea’ as important elements of art; however, they both agreed that these alone are not sufficient for defining art. John Ruskin believed that true Art should embody professional skills and involve all the noble emotions. While the first element clearly means the highest level of skills, the second raises questions about how to assess the degree of an artwork’s energy. According to Ruskin, the power of art can only be revealed through the most appropriate selection of materials that is “capable of receiving and retaining the influence of the subtlest touch of the human hand”. He concluded that an artist’s work remains banal until the chosen material reveals its distinctive qualities. Given above, the energy of art is not about intangible traits which are hard to assess, but about an atmosphere which can be reached exclusively through every material medium.
In 2021, a group of Italian artists made a replica of Michelangelo's statue of David using a 3D printer, plastic material and marble dust. If everything is art and the material does not matter, a plastic printed David would be of the same importance as the original marble masterpiece. “Art cannot be defined", they say. Just ask yourself - for whom is it so beneficial to blur these boundaries?
The text was prepared by Victoria Stepanets, was published in the ARKTalks magazine, Summer 2024. Edited by Soyeon Jung and Yuna Goda
Bibliography:
1. Danto, Arthur, What art is, (CPI Group Ltd, 2013)
2. Gombrich, Ernst, The story of art, (Phaidon Press Limited, 2021)
3. Kenneth M. Lansing, Why we need a definition of Art, https://www.aristos.org/aris-04/lansing1.htm#*Note
4. Morris, William, Art, Wealth and Riches, (Renard Press Ltd, 2022)
5. Michelle Marder Kamhi, Kenneth M. Lansing, 1925–2022: A Voice in the Wilderness of Art Education, https://www.mmkamhi.com/2023/02/14/kenneth-m-lansing-1925-2022/
Michelle Marder Kamhi, The lamentable consequences of blurring the boundaries, https://www.mmkamhi.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/The-lamentable-consequences-of-blurring-the-boundaries.pdf
6. Ruskin, John, On art and life, (Penguin books Ltd, 2004)