Friday

Art Resources, Thoughts

What is Art?

What is art? Art, to me, is the appreciation of anything set aside from reality. Dictionary.com defines art as being something that is appealing or more than ordinary in significance. Art is the story of a culture. Whether the art topic is Michelangelo’s David or Colors by Joe Shmoe, it all symbolizes one-thing and that’s the extent of human ability. Art could be considered magical sometimes; as it resides in your subconscious and awakens from time to time giving, only humans, a sudden urge to create astoundingly, beautiful, works of art. Art is the search, appreciation and compliment to the question, “What is Art?” Art is intangible and it translates into all languages. Art is my appreciation of the greening brown leaves on the trees outside. Commonly art could be defined, but this is only specifically; as I can designate it in daily life. “That is art.” Generally, however, art is undefined; art is, most importantly, an idea.

From toxic swirling gases on an uninhabitable infantile earth to pictographs etched into caveman walls, prehistory is all of time before writing. With the creation of art, humans also developed the ability to speak, thusly evolving from the dumb-fog of animality. We developed the ability to think and create. This is the significance of art; it’s indicative of the growth of the human-brain. The ability to conceive your own creation without seeing it first and then creating it is half of the generation of art; the appreciation of that creation is the other half. Language Arts is art in its most basic form; primitively it was made of pictograms or pictures representing words, and even this defines art in itself. However art is a true shape-shifter, as it can take numerous forms.

Art is a man sitting beneath a tree, alone in a prairie, witnessing a rainbow and comprehending its beauty. Art is a woman on a phone, in a busy New York train station, getting bumped and brushed past, while a painter paints from above in marvelous colors. It’s the writer when he observes all of this as he walks by and documents its significance. None of this, however, can truly be considered art until the girl on the phone stops for a second as she reaches the top of the stairs and gazes at the painting momentarily; not until she stops for a second to admire the beauty, or understand the reasoning behind it, or attempt to understand it, or live it for a second, is art actually art. Art can, however, be hidden forever and still be art too; this is the power of art.

Art is made by artists. Artists are adept at their craft or they are modest in skill. The only criteria for artists are that he or she makes art. Some artists are, indeed, better than others. No artist, however, can refute another artist’s name as such or would they attempt to, because art is a coming together of spirits. It’s the bringing together of people. It’s the dive into intellectualism; it’s the foundation for our lives. Art is the backbone for everything and everything can be considered art. It is not vague but it is obscure. Art is up to you to define. Simply put, ultimately art is a cloud of creativity that encases the earth and gives us the ability to feel any emotion we are capable of by allowing ourselves to be submerged by an alternate reality which is stress-free, and can be left as quickly as turning your head, to me at least.

Top art resources on the web

Art Communities

• DeviantART
  Not quite as sinister as you would think, DeviantART is the largest online art community in the world. Some may say the quantity outweighs the quality, but we say you just have to do some digging
• Shadowness
  Digital art community, smaller userbase
• GfxArtist
  Another digital art community, more focused on ‘elitism’ within the community
• PhotoPoints
  Film and Digital photography community. Site is more focused on content over a pretty face, it delivers for sure.
• DepthCORE
  A private digital art community. The quality of work on this site is held to very high standards generally. Includes original audio compositions by members as well

Art Blogs

• Design Observer
  Well written, lengthy articles written by a classy crew. Commentary on design and culture
• PingMag
  Articles on japanese design
• Graffiti Research Lab
  “Dedicated to outfitting graffiti artists with open source technologies for urban communication.” Take that as you wish..
• Design Diary
  Provides art resource blurbs
• Seattle Art Blog
  Great seattle art blog. Pertains more to the northwest, but a good site for anyone
• Coxsoft Art News
  Various international art news
• Juxtapoz Magazine
  Print and web publication on art and culture

Buy Art

• Art.com Art Prints
  The biggest online resource for buying art
• Design by Humans
  Cool trendy site where artists get to sell their own work
• Obsession Art
  For the more erotically charged art enthusiast
• ImageKind
  Another site which allows its users to sell their own artwork.