What Is Art?

Well, dear one, perhaps the answer to this question is a process of exploration, a verb, rather than a noun. But I can say this:

Art is not simply an aesthetic product. It is not a decorative act. Of course, there are numerous outcomes, or rather, "products" we decipher as art. Visual installations, poetic language, harmonies and cacophonies, etc. , etc., etc. These are the mere, or not so mere, symptoms of art.

But to realize art's potential is, firstly, to stop nipping it at the bud. Stop recognizing it for the sole purpose of aesthetic entertainment and decoration. You see, art is an approach. A way of thinking, of behaving. Art probes assumptions. Strips away pre-determined notions. Calls upon the grotesque. Invites a space of feeling. I should think such potential could ignite flames of revolution and be an act of knowledge making, and this is why it is relevant and necessary.

Dare I say, art even opens capability for the unknowing. -MRO