What is Art?

Many people see art as a drawing, a painting, or a sculpture, but art is much more than that.  Art, to me, is anything that someone uses to express themselves visually.  In art, I feel that anything can be used as a canvas.  For example, the pair of shoes above, someone took a plain pair of sneakers and created them into a beautiful piece of artwork.  I think people use art to express certain behaviors or emotions that they are feeling while creating that piece of work.  If someone wants to create a picture about losing someone they love it would probably be made with dark colors to show the darkness that they are feeling.  Art is used around the world, and I think people use it as an escape.  Whenever they are feeling overwhelmed or stressed painting or drawing a picture to show what they are feeling or a place they wish they were can relieve that stress and put them in their own little world. 

Photographs are also something else that I consider artwork, and they are my personal favorite.  Pictures capture memories or can show you the beauty in nature, and they help you remember things for a lifetime.  All these beautiful pieces of artwork do come with a responsibility though.  To me being an artist comes with a number of responsibilities.  Once you make your biggest and best piece of work, or capture the most magnificent photograph, you have a responsibility to keep taking excellent photos and drawing beautiful pictures.  I also think that artists have a statement to make about the art, but I think that it is their responsibility not to offend anyone with their work.  Art gives people a responsibility to entertain people in a creative way with a dance, a sculpture, or even just graffiti written on the side of a train.

Art plays a hidden role all over the world.  Art is a great way for people to express themselves and get it shown to several people at one time. It can be used to symbolize almost anything.  For example the World War II memorial in Washington D.C. which salutes all the fallen soldiers.  People also do art projects all around the world just to get people's attention.  The picture below is in the city of Rotterdam where an artist put 45,000 stickers all throughout the city to tell people to stick together.  I was just in New York city over the summer and they were working on a project where they put black figures at the top of random buildings.  I'm not sure what the meaning of this project was, they said it was still a work in progress.  Art is also used in many houses as decoration for the walls because if your walls are bare, you are boring. Even the buildings around us are pieces of art that someone drew out, and then someone else put the drawing to life.  Art is all around us, whether you like it or not.