I am always looking for a good definition of “art.” Recently I was reminded of this one and would like to share it with you.
“The purpose of art is to lay bare the questions that have been hidden by the answers.”
James Baldwin
Do you have any favorite quotes on what is art?
Andrew
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About Andrew Reynolds
Born in California
Did the school thing studying electronics, computers, release engineering and literary criticism.
I worked in the high tech world doing software release engineering and am now retired.
Then I got prostate cancer.
Now I am a blogger and work in my wood shop doing scroll saw work and marquetry.
Andrew's View of the Week 
I like that quote, Andrew, and here’s one that stood out for me:
“Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.”
~ Pablo Picasso
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That’s a good one and a reason not to grow up.
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Or a reason to keep our inner child alive as we grow up. 😊
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Great quote by Baldwin. I hadn’t heard that one before. This isn’t really a definition, but I like it:
“The world always seems brighter when you’ve just made something that wasn’t there before.” ~ Neil Gaiman
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I like Baldwin’s definition and Gaiman’s is interesting too. Thanks.
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How about… “art is not what you see, but what you make others see’
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That’s a good one.
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After reading all the comments, I must be an artist! A wise man once told me art has no rules. I am a rule breaker…..so I must not be an artist?!
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In art, you must know the rules before you can break them. or at least know that there are rules.
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I like that quote. My favorite is along the same lines, I think it was Bacon: “The job of the artist is always to deepen the mystery.”
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I like that one too. of course anything with bacon is good … 😉
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“One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.”
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and an artist sees a creation in the discarded.
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“Every artist was first an amateur”—Ralph Waldo Emerson.
Gives us all hope!
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I like that one!
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That is a tantalizing definition. One that probably fits writing as well as art: Art is cheaper than therapy (I have no idea who said that first).
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I’ve always considered writing an art and the best therapy there is.
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