1. Running head: What is art? 1
What is art?
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2. What is art? 2
Art is dynamic term which is subjective to every individual considering the human nature
and opinion. It has been from the past and covers the present, so its our everyday encounter that
hardly ever stop, but it lies in artist skill according to people’s perception by its nature engaging
in someone in its mages, colours and the complex tangle of feelings, combinations and
association. Through the theoretical of reality and idealism of ideas it remains controversial in
the subject of being a tangible reality or just an illusion. However, the doubt to explain art, it
remains the experience in our everyday life.
Consideration of the chapter one, the theoretical comparative analysis basis on art gives
us a sample of some truth of art, in the philosophical critics of aesthetic theory principles
whereby the characteristics of objects and things that are inherently beautiful with combination
of real and ideal. It entails the combination of copying reality, by joining it to conceptual and
imaginative art to bring about beauty of objects. Aristotle’s theory stated it as imitation or
‘mimesis’ whereby an artist should initiate only ethically superior universal ideas not to ordinary
people but restricted to less or minimum people which could assert the creating work of art like
holding up a minor up to nature because the art reflects what he or she sees in the middle ages to
bring about good business, truth and beauty so the stimulation of art in this perception was like
encountering a satisfaction which people have when something works well, when pieces all fit,
everything comes out right. However he ever made it clear how an artist, in practice reconsiders
the imitation of reality with the reproduction of these philosophical ideals thus he concluded the
artistic work is by selecting certain parts of reality and combining hem.
Plato embraced art as a form of inspiration. In him art is in more positive term inspiration
changes one’s perception in reality just like inebriation or madness thus leads to vigorous
creation of something. In his assertion, an idea exists in a state of absolute perception so art is an

3. What is art? 3
imitation twice removed from truth reality so becomes a divine inspiration or possession. So
since his statements in the nineteenth century, many people have defined an artistic as an
inspired seer or prophet who saw things that ordinary people could not which later lead to this
platonic inspiration which gave the artist a godlike power to penetrate reality to see hidden
meanings and to unify matter and spirit through art. Thus through the inherent desire of good
object seen in ideal world, the artist would want to modify it even more in a touching way, thus
much better outcome in reality description.
More of the psychological theories have their views on art. In the right brain theory, the
left brain controls language, logic and sequencing while the right controls art and intuits spatially
thus through the shift to the left, it brings about awareness and thus perception of overall pattern
of things which takes hold of a person, which later leads to divine inspiration thus perceptual
artists who mimic what they see by hand and mind eye and differentiated from conceptual artists
who see art depicting what the mind knows in terms of ideas.
Popular theories also have a different view on art principles in both realism and prettiness
or just beauty. Art is defined as reality because the stimulation and moderation of the art work
represents reality in genre, fantasy, personification and even in historical information , so the
object seen are represented in the exact way as they appear in portrait form giving different
subjects but real meaning in conveyed to the people. Prettiness on the other hand says that art
cannot be ugly but portrays a beautiful completion of what initially existed thus the philosophical
embracing of the branch of aesthetics in appreciation of beauty thus nature gives the landscape
thus we wish to look at always but due to evolution from middle age to renaissance and
reformation the world of real beauty is slowly diminished to abstract art whereby the destruction
of nature has continued over time and this has given another view on symbolic communication

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theory having the aspects of semiotic principle whereby art communicates by visual signs
between artist and viewer while symbolic communication happens when the object is taken as a
form of communication between people by giving it different meanings according to the way of
interaction to it thus through some scary artistic work with stun warnings can be viewed as
contrives measures or the morality standardization by giving advice messages or they can be
spiritual embracing by having artistic work whereby the image of crucifixion can imply the
painful experience and burden that Christ did carry for our sake and thus these can bring hope to
the oppressed, the sick and rejected by empathizing with the impression that the artistic conveys
to the audience.
Theories based on functions of art like for its own sake, religion whereby, it restricts,
inspire, makes the invisible by combining the written world in the pictorial form that brings
closer the meaning in viewing than just reading, accepting the truth and way through the
acceptance of the directly touching surrounding of the spiritual inscriptions of portraits of
holistic art like the nude pictures in some community whereby they may represents liberty, holy
place, the healing power or the holy deeds and in the same line through art, the models for
behavior in Aristotle works they bring about morality perception and the compliancy of Plato
that it will inspire the good style.
Furthermore, some theories still base their view on comparison between the arts being
referred to as poetry whereby rules of literatures apply. The hidden phrasal meaning can only be
portrayed by careful consideration of the subjects and the combinations in that some pictures
may be abstract or group which is not orderly thus should be given rational and critical analysis
to provide meaning. Fine arts are distinct from applied arts, which serve as function and yet more
art as music. It affects correspondence between the senses. Thus as the sweet lynes and the

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rhythmical piece of beat impresses thus the nature of art even the furniture, walls, surrounding
can bring about satisfaction of the heart and mind.
In chapter two analysis, art principles lies in the uses and subjects in its nature known as
monograph which is picture writing of art criticism, subject and symbols even jargons, some may
be usual or others unusual according to the way represented through different styles which
discloses only part of its meaning or significant through understanding the background
information of social, historical, economic and psychological factors and thus the two
complement and transform each other for the art work.
The classification ranges from kinds of subjects for example, still pictures which indicate
the obvious view, narrative art like religious, mythological and genre subjects often tell part of a
story that in actually has a beginning, middle and as ending usually viewed in old historical
paintings, religious art which dates back to the beginning of the art has magical, stir emotions to
all, to certain religion.
Another level of art is in the symbolic, whereby it applies in personification whereby
some visual image is taken to represent something in reality to reduce perception while allegory
is very much like a personification in that it stands for an idea it means two or more
personification performing some action conceptual or moral message is passed this can be done
by excessive exaggeration use of emotion to arouse work to prevent a proportionate or justified
response to the subject. Thus, all the portraits of everyday admiration come out of the adjustment
or improvement of our own skills. Through knowledge of creativity and imitativeness to
innovation of some new objects to make our environment decorative and worthy. Thus the

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principles discussed always rely on each other to complete artistic work either in the abstract
subjects, fantasy, nude, disorderly or just definite art.

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Reference
Hierinymous, Bosch. Critical Analysis: The Nature of art, chapter 1 & 2.
http://art.wadsworth.com/buser02