What is art?

I find this question annoying. The answer should be obvious but often isn't. What is an artist? Who is an artist?

My answer: the process of art is any creative endeavour. Art is the result of that endeavour. My drawings are art and so are those of my children. A Cordon Bleu dinner is art and so is a McDonald's fast takeaway dinner. A da Vinci painting is art and so is a bunch of Warhol prints produced by a machine to make money. A Hollywood film is art, as is an advert and a news bulletin. The Daily Sport newspaper is art and so is the graffiti adorning the walls by the railway line on the way in to Paddington station. Paddington station is art, as is the Erotic Gherkin, the London Eye, the Houses of Parliament, the Centre Point building, and the Tate Modern building. The exhibits of Tate Modern are art (I suppose), as are the exhibits of the National Gallery and the displays on the walls of your local primary school. The statues in Trafalgar Square are art (even the new one), as are its fountains and Buckingham Palace's gardens. This website is art, as is the software that runs and crashes on your computer. Your computer is art, as is your hairstyle and your clothes.

Art is everywhere and it is everything man-made. It cannot be otherwise. We are all artists when we create and we create consciously and unconsciously as a routine habit every day.

But this is ultimately a trivial question and a not terribly helpful answer. The Centre Point building may be art but that doesn't mean anyone likes it or that it makes a positive contribution to the human experience. The Scottish Parliament building may be art but that doesn't mean the taxpayer should have been fleeced four hundred million pounds to build it. The Millennium Dome may have cost us a fortune but the public would rather play on the London Eye. What is it that separates good art from bad art, worthwhile art from the dreary and waste of time? What is Great Art?

This site was last updated 24 September 2006