Why is art of value?

[Dracula Girl]

Why is art of value? What does it add to life? What does it do? What is so great about it? Why do people like it? What do artists try to do with art?

Sorry Twilly. I am trying to learn at least.

[Abelard]

Art is a method for artificially eliciting emotional responses. Use properly, it can help us get in touch with emotions that are dangerous or complex, and can be used as a type of spiritual medicine.

On the negative side, it can be addictive and a type of spiritual masturbation. The iconoclastic and non-instrumental movements in Christianity were reacting to this aspect of art.

[Pilgrim]

Why is art of value? What does it add to life? What does it do? What is so great about it? Why do people like it? What do artists try to do with art?

Sorry Twilly. I am trying to learn at least.

WHy do you like a good movie or story?

[Dracula Girl]

WHy do you like a good movie or story?

It has a positive message of personal importance or it reminds me of someting good, or it is funny. I fail to see the connection between this and say Van Gogh.

[Pilgrim]

It has a positive message of personal importance or it reminds me of someting good, or it is funny. I fail to see the connection between this and say Van Gogh.

Movies and stories are art. Thus for you the value is what you have declared above. Just because you don't like a particular piece of art does not mean it has no value. It means you don't like it. It would be pretty small minded not to see that distinction.

[Rusty T]

Viewing art allows us to gather with self-important people and sip champagne while pretending we 'get' what is being 'said.'

rusty (who spent way too much time in college trying to be artsy)


p.s. On a more serious note, art is an human impulse. Trying to stifle the impulse is like trying to tell a child not to giggle. But like belief in God, some scientist will come along and identify the gene that makes us make and appreciate art. Everything will be labeled and put in its proper order so that we can know that there is no mystery to life. I love you because my brain's chemicals tell me to. I like Van Gogh because my ancestors developed a genetic tic that made them draw on their caves' walls.

[Dracula Girl]

p.s. On a more serious note, art is an human impulse. Trying to stifle the impulse is like trying to tell a child not to giggle.

But people do stiffle that sometimes, no? Is that impulse different in different people?

[Tickle Me Mercury]

Why is art of value? What does it add to life? What does it do? What is so great about it? Why do people like it? What do artists try to do with art?

Sorry Twilly. I am trying to learn at least.

I can only answer this in general terms: individuals decide for themselves what is or isn't of value to them. There are outside influences, like physical need and scarcity, but the fact remains, if it's not something you need to live or have any desire to obtain, an object is of no value to you.

As for the other questions, just ask them of yourself. What does art add to your life? What does it do for you? What is so great about it for you? Why do you like it?

[Conductor42]

yeah, that.

[Uncouth Angel]

Art is of value to us for the same reason music, literature, and religion are of value. They make life worth living by showing us how we are connected to the world around us, and our place in it. These things, while of no practical/objective value, are of immeasureable value in preserving the soul of humanity. Art is catharsis, art is redemptive, and good art makes us better people. It adds to reality, rather than detracting from it.

Of course, some people argue against the value of religion on these very same grounds, without realizing how stupid this sort of objection actually is.