What is Art?

What is it about the term “performance art” that makes us all shudder? Perhaps it’s the “artists” who do things such as cut their wrists open in front of an audience. Acts such as this (and by the way, the guy who pulled that stunt was rushed to the hospital, where he bled to death, not according to plan) quickly find a spot in my category called, “gimmick art,” along with works such as, “Piss Christ” by American photographer Andres Serrano, where a golden image of Jesus Christ on the cross actually turns out to be submerged in urine. Like many other things that were corrupted in the ’80s, art suffered greatly.\n In the mumbo-jumbo mix-up of cultural definition that bore us into the 21st century, we are stuck wondering where trash ends and fine art begins.\n Now, I know what you’re thinking. “Fine art” refers to tradition, propriety and the often-reproduced “Starry Night” by Vincent Van Gough, or Claude Monet’s “Bridge over a Pool of Water Lilies.” But it also refers to breakthroughs, innovations and anger for the sake of changing minds. Another performer once hid underneath the stairs of the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art, whispering insightful words about art to startle passersby.\n Here is the bottom line: The cool, calculated reflections on observation of life versus the impulsive, heated coils of ignorant passion. This is not to say that shocking passion is not an important element of artistic quality. \nWhen we realize that here are the defining values of honest art, we can realize that art can be found in unexpected places – the film, “Clueless,” the posters on your wall or even the doodles in your notebook.\nIt is highly stressed that art is everywhere, but sometimes something so outrageous disguises itself as art, and we fail to see where art really is – inside you.