Stop asking "What is art?"

A big peeve of mine is anything that explores the question, "What is art?" Aside from being largely obnoxious and self-indulgent, it's an intellectually bankrupt venture, in that it's a semantics question masquerading as a philosophical question.

It’s like when people pose the question, “Could God create a rock so heavy that He Himself couldn’t lift it?” It passes itself off as philosophically deep just because it’s a question that is seemingly impossible to answer. However, when you break it down into its fundamental essence, you realize that the only reason you can’t answer it is because you’re asking yourself “Is it possible for a force to overpower itself?”, which is a nonsense question that doesn’t deserve an answer.

In the same way do we analyze “What is art?”, driven by the apparent complexity of the question. Sure, there’s a lot to bring to this discussion: The concept of “art” is a nebulous and ephemeral thing, where the actual artistic merit of a particular subject is affected by context, reception, intent, and perhaps a whole list of other inscrutibles. Of course, the same thing could be said about the word “nice”, and nobody ever ponders “What is nice?”

Hell, the same thing could be said about the word “berries”. Did you know that science says pumpkins, watermelons, and eggplants are berries, but raspberries and strawberries are not? Yet, outside of a laboratory setting, there’s a certain understanding about what would go into a berry pie. You could have a long conversation about what makes something a berry, and that conversation would be more interesting than a "what is art" debate.

The fact is, the very act of creating art is itself challenging people to explore this question. If you wonder what art is, just try to make it, and see what happens. Ask questions about the human condition. Ask questions about the future. Hold the mirror of artwork up to the world and find something worthwhile to reflect, because when you hold a mirror up to a mirror, you're not going to see anything of value.