What is Art?

I’ve been obsessing about this question. I’m not sure what kicked it off, but it’s been rumbling around in my brain for days now. If you’d asked me 35 years ago, I’d have said “Whatever they’ve got in the Art Institute. And, you know, places like that.”

Now… oh, it’s a whole different story now! First of all, what I think is art may not be what you think is art and that’s perfectly fine. For me, art is anything someone has created that I find pleasing. It could please any (or all) of my senses, and could encompass anything from a 1969 Corvette to Pinoy Invasion’s Chicken Adobo, and a hundred thousand things in between. (Not that I’ve actually eaten PI’s chicken adobo… but I’ve had my co-workers’ chicken adobo, and that is some fiercely fine food. Almost makes me consider not being a vegetarian for a few minutes. It definitely makes me hungry every time I go to that site.)

When people think art, mostly (it seems) they think visual art. But literature is art. And music is art. Architecture and interior design are art. Dance is art. The Japanese tea ceremony is art. Dressmaking, knitting and crocheting are all art. Plays and movies are art. There’s an art to computer programming, though it’s considered by most to be a science. Heck, in Kelly’s world, even graffiti is art! And yes, some art is crap. To someone else.

So here’s a question for you… what would you consider to be art that other people might not? Or, conversely, what makes you scratch your head in bemusement when other people call it art?