There’s More To Art Than Paint

Given that during art lessons, I never ventured above a level 3, which isn’t very good, it’s ironic that I have decided to write about art. What is art anyway? After asking Siri, I found that the definition of art is “the expression or application of human creative skill.” So according to Siri, who I trust, the art lessons which I had in school until year 9, have limited my art in the same way that turning off your phone limits the amount of phone calls you receive. In other words, it was a waste of time and pencil lead. This was mostly down to the fact that I was as practical as a coat made from glass during these lessons, so the net result was a mess and no expression or indeed application of my skill.

When I think about it, I’ve spent the majority of my life under the impression that I wasn’t very good at art, however, I now believe that art is more than drawing a tree. Art should be subjective if you ask me. Sport could be art. The other day, I witnessed a masterpiece of tennis from Nadal and Federer. I’m not as good as those two, but I’d like to think that I am producing some art, as hitting shots in tennis is a skill in itself.

When you think about it, pretty much anything is art. Obviously you’ve got the likes of Kanye West to Oasis performing the art of music. Then there are more obscure things, like food; Heston Blumenthal treats food as an art. Look at most of humanity and you can probably find some art.

I do think it’s a shame though that some people don’t see art. Just yesterday, I heard a friend saying that Drake’s music is not art but instead, something that you flush down the toilet. I know that we as humans can’t all like the same things, but the way in which Drake writes clever poetry is and will always be an art and said friend should accept that.

Not everything can be an art it seems. For example, I can argue with my maths teacher that I am correct because maths is an art and art should be subjective, but I would be wrong saying this whilst my answer is a factor of 50 off. So if I get an answer in a maths question incorrect, I have performed the art of maths wrong, therefore I am wrong. It would be like using a rake instead of a football at Wembley, it’s not going to be much of a performance from either team because it is simply not right.

Maths and science are different to art, any engineer is likely to mock and artist and vice versa. However, as a hopeful student of maths and science, even I admit that despite the fact that subjects are different, science and maths do produce artwork. The list is endless; rockets, dams formula one cars, they are all examples of human skill, therefore, they are pieces of art.

So, art teachers of the world, it’s all very well telling young people that art is colouring in, but once they are able to think for themselves, let them find the art that they enjoy, want to do or are good at. Don’t tell us that we are inept at art because we don’t possess a certain set of skills. Don’t limit us as children, in limiting us, you are limiting a future generation.

I’ve never been a fan of painting anyway, so put down your paint brush, grow up and open your mind a bit more.

This post was originally published on my Medium Site on 9th February 2017