Thoughts Of A Guy Named Mason

What is art?

In his latest video Making a miniature spaceship Evan Monsma says this:

It is less about the thing and more about the suggestion of a thing

This quote has got me thinking.

I have a lot of friends who are artists who are always obsessed with making their drawings perfect, anatomically correct and a replica of their reference. I always try to express that it doesn't need to be perfect but I haven't really understood why - or rather I haven't said it out loud or written it down.

A metaphor is a literary device used to give the impression or suggestion of something without explicitly stating it.

So then in visual arts do we have such equivalent of a device to use? or is it just nature to some while others stress over fidelity?


I can raise the same concern with any over form of art. I see photography as an art form, another medium to express something; a lot of other people seem to see it as a way to document an event or experience, as if it is only that.

Performative art is seen as a medium of story telling? What happens when someone's story is 30 seconds long and isnt a theatre production?

Main steam music often seems like a cheap cashgrab to me. There can easily be emotion but there isn't a story. Is music seen as that by the general public? What do they think of the thousands of small artists who found a guitar and a cheap microphone and started telling their life story?

Literature and writing is yet again just an art form. Often I believe the meaning and message of someones blog post or a narrative is deeper than some over meanings - mostly because writing is very direct.


What is art? and more importantly what does everyone else see art as?