What is the Use of Art

There are many different opinions of what is good and what is bad art. But what is art? In my view, there are many diverse categories of art that include sculpture, painting, poetry, music, film and theatre. All of these can be classified as art which is ultimately a type of entertainment that gives pleasure. It is an extremely broad term that incorporates many different genres of each category.

In my opinion, art is extremely self-indulgent and hedonistic. An artist ultimately creates a masterpiece for his or her own pleasure before considering the final output even if they think about the target audience. Very few people do it to primarily please others and tend to take great pride in their art.

Subdivisions exist in each category. For example, in music, these include concerts, stage shows, musicals, music videos and operas which all incorporate colour, vividness and imagination. All are music interpreted in different ways and each is an art form in its own right. Even a newspaper could be considered as an art form to some as it includes photos, pictures and text all construed in a different manner suited to the chosen reader.

Language plays an extremely important part in art. Literary art that includes books, poetry and plays, all use diverse types of language. Prose is an alternative to verse but both of these can be classified as art which many people fail to recognise. To the majority, art means painting and sculpture and they forget that there are many alternative ways of interpreting the word.

For me, music plays an extremely important part in my life and without it, my life would be boring and monotonous. I believe that music isn’t just lyrics set to a tune and that it goes deeper becoming very meaningful and soothing. My main solace is listening to a song that has words that I can relate to and when it is all collated together, it becomes a piece of art.

As with many things, it is impossible to say that there is a defined use for art. It is there to ultimately give people satisfaction – both the artist and the person on the receiving end whether it is through painting, poetry, music or film. It does not serve a particular purpose but can be a therapeutic experience for the artist. If it is a painting, it can be relaxing for the painter to add colour to a vacant space. In film, the director can put across their views through video and pictures and in music, a performer can write about matters that are relevant to their life or something that they believe will affect people in a positive way.

Many artists have even said that ultimately it’s important for them to be pleased with what they do first and that after that, it’s those on the receiving end who they aim to please. It is extremely hard for someone to create something that they don’t like themselves and although this may in due course please others, I believe that the creator has to believe in what they have made.

As it has no purpose, there is no use for it. But just because it doesn’t have a use, it doesn’t mean that it is appalling and in fact often implies the exact opposite. When something has no defined use it leaves a great deal of room for interpretation because had it a use, it would need to live up to expectations whereas without one, there is room for flexibility. If a use had to be given to art, it is to provoke discussion and thoughts although this can also be done even if there is no set use.

Without art, life would be uninspiring, monotonous and tiresome and so with no use, art is free to be understood in whatever way one desires.

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