What is Art (ar arts) - Essay Example

What is art Introduction: Almost everything in the world today can be termed as art and that in everyday life we use art for expression purposes, art can therefore be defined as a product of an individual or the society that is created in order to serve a certain purpose it is a form of expression that enables individuals to communicate, there are many different forms of art and the paper discusses forms of art which include music, paintings, literature and films. The paper also discusses intended purposes of these forms of art and the current trend. a. Forms of art: In today's society there various forms of art and in this section forms of art which include literature, films, music and paintings: Literature: Literature is termed as an art in that it is a way by which individuals are able to express their ideas and feeling regarding various, there are many forms of written art which include novels, academic book, journals and magazines. These forms of art service various purposes and that they are aimed at informing, persuading and entertaining, for example newspapers and other forms of written art are used to inform the general public, and novels on the other hand are for entertainment purposes. Films and videos: These is another form of art that is used for the purpose of communication, it is also used for entertainment purposes. Today the film and video industry has been commercialized and large firms have invested in this firm of art industry example Hollywood, therefore this form of art provides employment opportunities. Music: Music is also another form of art that involve the presentation of audio form of art, it is one of the oldest form of art which can be traced back to ancient times, the music industry provide employment opportunities and its main purpose is to entertain, persuade and inform individuals in the society, music has been used to express certain feeling and also to persuade. Paintings: Paintings, drawing s and pictures are forms of art that involve the use of signs in communication, this is one of the oldest form of art given that in the past when man lived in caves he painted cave walls. Its original purpose was a form of expression but this has changed with time whereby today art is a form of communication. b. Purpose: The intended purpose of art varies from the original creator of art, some form of art are created in order to entertain, commercial purposes, inform and as a form of expression. The following is a discussion of some of the purposes of art: Commercial: Most forms of art today are created for commercial purposes, this means that there are many individuals in the world today who depend on art as a source of income, for example all literature work is sold in the market at a price, all music, films and videos are sold in the market . Forms of art are also used by production firms to advertise their products, advertisements are accompanied by music and performances which help in the sale of products and this can therefore be termed as another commercial purpose of art, art is therefore an important economic activity in the world today. Entertain: Some forms of art are for entertainment purposes, although they are sold in the market example films and music their main purpose is to entertainment and in order for individuals to be entertained they pay for these forms of art. A good example is music and films whose main purpose is to entertain the audience. Communicate: The above mentioned forms of art are forms of communication, however art only provides a one way communication channel whereby the audience is not in a position to respond to expressions of art. Some of the common forms of art that serve the communication purpose include newspapers and videos and films. Expression: Forms of art are used to express certain feeling, these is most common with paintings and visual form of art, these forms of art can express happiness, violence, loneliness, joy and anger. For example an artist can create a form of art that shows individuals fighting and therefore this form of art portrays violence. In painting for example artist will use signs and color to express certain emotions where red will mean danger and white will mean peace. Status: Art can also be used to express social status, art for example driving expensive cars is a sign of high social status, another example is music videos whereby artists wear gold or diamond rings and chains and this is aimed at showing high social status. Therefore art can be used to express social status whereby individuals will associate with expensive art forms. Persuade: Art is also used to persuade individuals in the society, a good example is advertisement that uses music and pictures to persuade individuals to purchase products, many companies in the world today use art to inform and persuade consumers to purchase their products and the amount spent in such activities is higher than the cost of producing these products. Therefore art serves an important role in persuading individuals in the society. Conclusion: The above discussion highlights some forms of art and their purposes, form the above discussion the oldest forms of art include paintings and music, recent forms of art include literature, videos and films. The purpose of art has changed over time, in the past art was used for the purpose of communication and entertainment, however this has changed and today art forms have been commercialized and its purpose has changed from communication to persuasion and expression. Art serves various purposes which include communication which influenced educating and informing individuals, entertaining example music and videos, persuading example advertisements and commercial purposes whereby all the forms of art are available in the market art a price. From the above discussion it is evident that are is dynamic and not static and this means that the various forms of art will change over time. Read More