Whether painting nature, arranging the sounds of nature, or photographing it, it often raises the question ‘What is artistic?’.
Art is a vast subject that accounts for a diverse range of cultural activities and so the question of ‘What is artistic?’ is one of deep philosophical consideration. Art is the expression of human creative skill and imagination, producing works that evoke emotion, ideas, or a sense of beauty, whether from nature, the imagination, or through an abstract expression of shapes and gestures.
Art encompasses a vast range of practices, including painting, sculpture, music, literature, and performance, and can be created for aesthetic enjoyment, emotional expression, or conceptual communication.
Humans with creative and imaginative talents evoke a worthwhile experience with their works of art and have even prompted artificial intelligence to expand upon the practice, to breach the horizon of imagination.
Our individual tastes differ considerably, and we have personal reasons for our choices of favourite music, literature, paintings, and other artistic expressions.
For instance, someone may choose Van Gogh’s Café Terrace at Night – Café Terrace at Night – Wikipedia – for its visual content – predominately three colours, with a striking gold glow, shades of blue and natural greens – attracted to its cosy theme, whilst others are reminded of the time and location, and wish to disassociate themselves with the theme.
It is a similar contrast with literature, musical genres and anything else that resonates beyond the immediate aesthetics.
The rise of the robots.
One area that has raised debate recently is the issue of A.I. AI-generated art. The music industry has felt the need to protect artists, and the issue of AI-generated music has now become embroiled in a legal dialogue – What Will The Government’s Proposed Changes to the Rules on Copyright and Artificial Intelligence Mean for the UK Music Industry? – UK Music.
When the question of ‘what is artistic?’ is raised, there is an immediate denial that A.I.-generated material can be classed as real art because the work is not the physical manifestation of an artist. But as A.I. becomes a larger part of our lives, just as there is a place for drug-enhanced athletics – Enhanced Games – Wikipedia – A.I.-enhanced art will certainly take its place on the starting line.
Artificial intelligence has become increasingly prominent in a number of areas as AI plays an increasingly dominant role in our lives – The Pitfalls of AI Generated Art – Data Column | Institute for Advanced Analytics
There will be a future blog on my website that goes into more detail about the problems with A.I.-generated material – and certainly not written by A.I. – because most artists tend to agree that, whilst A.I. is undeniably a useful tool, its usage should be heavily monitored as many talented artists are already struggling to make a living.
As with literature and other genres, A.I. generated art is likely to have its own classification. This comes at a time when there are even rumblings amongst artists that, very soon, a third of professional artists and designers could sadly see their work replaced by A.I., with graphic designers feeling the biggest impact – Why Artists Hate AI Art: The Meaning Behind the Debate on Creativity and Control
What is artistic expression?
Similar to writing and drama, an artist expresses a feeling through their work. It’s an idea, a perspective, or an experience that AI doesn’t have. The intention to communicate artistically is something that AI cannot draw from life itself.
And because art is not defined by the material, art can be sound, paint, movement, or even code.
Also, when asked the question, ‘What is artistic?’, we have to take into consideration the fact that art can be many things to many different people. AI will struggle to determine its preferred choice because choice is a human element based on personal experience and development, and not through coded data.
A piece of art may evoke feelings of joy or sadness, or provide a different perspective on life. You could argue that art doesn’t have to elicit emotion; it can just exist in an intellectual or conceptual capacity.
What constitutes art changes over time and with cultural shifts. If we are becoming a culture of AI, then the art will reflect those times and emerge from within. After all, there was a time when graffiti wasn’t considered a form of art, but the first cave paintings were.
Over time, those ideas change, which is why art is always evolving and somewhat challenging.
Art through the ages?
Through the ages, the great philosophers considered art on the basis of how well it captured the world at that time. Philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle based the significance of a piece of art on its imitation or reality at that time, and this is known as the imitation theory.
Expression theory, however, sees art as the expression of the artist’s personality, and many people still think of art in this way today. An artist’s life is pontificated over when viewing their work, and we consider their emotional state, their experiences, and we try to determine how a piece was perhaps conceived within their imagination.
Others argue that what makes art is not what it expresses or represents but what emerges from the arrangement of its formal elements. The line, shape, beat, composition, or diction is the significant form that gives it aesthetic unity and harmony.
Closely related to this theory of ‘formalism’ comes aesthetic theory. This theory states the obvious by defining a piece of art by its ability to produce an aesthetic experience.
After all, everyone can agree that our subjective feelings are what make our tastes differ. We often say that we appreciate something for its style, its beauty, or its perceptual qualities. Therefore, we wouldn’t usually consider something to be a piece of art just for its practical function, but we would consider a practical item to be artistic if it were part of an aesthetically pleasing arrangement.
If you are to believe that art serves a purpose beyond itself, as a tool for society, we have to consider the theory of instrumentalism. Instrumentalism is a philosophical science that is given to the methodological view that ideas are instruments, and the worth of an idea is based on how effective it is – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instrumentalism .
Is art defined by its society?
Philosophers like George Dickie certainly believed that art would be upheld by the citizens within a society, and exhibit it accordingly.
Known as institutional theory, Dickie and others like him believed that art would be defined socially, and it would be recognised by a group of ‘experts’ who would provide a platform for the work, whether that was in a museum, a gallery, in the form of a building, or heard in a theatre. And once the work had received recognition and critical acclaim, it could then be deemed a ‘work of art’.
When art is defined by its relationship to previous specimens, we call this the ‘procedural theory’. Also known as the ‘historical theory’, we see this theory come into play when something fits into a historical narrative. The piece of art might build on past styles, be heavily influenced by something in the past, react to it, or redefine it. By doing so, the piece of work then gradually finds its own rightful place in history, alongside its predecessor.
Unsurprisingly, pragmatists see art as part of something bigger. The ‘pragmatic theory’ surrounding art sees something as part of an everyday experience. If something is meaningful, engaging, and reflects a heightened experience, then there is no boundary between art and life as they flow into one.
Even deeper, too, is the more recent theory of ‘conceptual art’. This theory places emphasis upon the mere idea of something being more important than the physical form, meaning that a concept alone can constitute art, even if there is no traditional object – The 62 Greatest Works of Conceptual Art – HubPages .
As with the pragmatic theory of having no boundary between life and art, the Postmodern Theory argues that art cannot be defined at all. This anti-definition theory suggests that, like with A.I., boundaries are shifting all the time, and so, instead of categorising art, we should determine it by how it functions in different contexts; how it impacts an audience and serves various purposes beyond its aesthetics – Philosophy of art – Pragmatism, Aesthetics, Creativity | Britannica .
I hope you enjoyed this philosophical post, and please feel free to browse my website for more art inspiration.