Essay Networks

Art is a form of expression from the artist, but what determines how he expresses, and what he expresses as art? On the other hand, what do we employ to observe art, to appreciate or criticize, generally relate to art? Art is often argued to be based on taste and culture; they are the factors which influence vital elements of art, from the artist’s expression to the critics. However, is art solely based on taste and culture, that the artist’s artistic expression and the critics’ opinions on art can by no means be affected by other factors?

First of all, we have to look at how art is based on taste and culture. People may have different tastes on colors, some like mild colors and some prefer eye-catching ones, it is obvious that they can easily drive one’s choice of expressing art, or his preference of art, taste is what determines us to choose and prefer art. Culture plays an important role as well, as people having same cultural background will be inspired by form of art in that particular culture, they will then have some similarities in their taste, either in creating or appreciating art, therefore culture gives us a background and imitation of how to see art. Tastes and culture are generally very essential when it comes to art, but to what extent?

Taste and culture is discussed to have quite a big impact on art, however it is hard to solely look at taste and culture in the question. Living in the real world, we are always tied with time, and so are taste and culture. It will not be fair with time without taking into account time, because taste and culture change with time. After periods of time, people are likely to seek for new ways of expressing and seeing art, switching their perspectives, this is how human beings evolve, in art and many other areas. This can be argued that time also changes our taste and culture. Although taste and culture are the ultimate tools we use to see and create art, they are transformed by the development of humanity in history beyond.

Since art is an interaction between the artist and the people who have the chance to perceive the art, emotions come to play a part in both creating and perceiving art. Emotions are based on one’s personal experience, because human responds to what they have come across. We will have a better understanding of art if we have experienced the art’s emotions, and the artist’s form of expression is determined by what he wants to express, and this is directly related to what he has experience and his feelings upon it. People having the same cultural background do not always have similar experiences, but personal experience is also an element within taste, because it is something we emotionally respond to, which can be seen as our “taste”.

From above, we can see very clearly how every single one of us personally has different tastes, and how taste and culture changes. However, this is only our individual way of perceiving art. In fact, we are affected by the others and the surroundings while it comes to a decision involving art. It is true that art changes by time, but some ancient forms of art are still well preserved and seen as great art nowadays, art is controlled by art authorities and publicity. By seeing these examples of “great art”, we unconsciously set up an art model for ourselves based on the public’s comments. When we judge or create art following our taste, we take other people’s taste as our taste, partially affecting our decisions in art, also this doesn’t necessarily be in our own culture, and culture is not relevant in judging art if we consider the art’s publicity.

From above, we can see several factors which are within elements of tastes, so while judging whether art is purely based on taste; we have to consider factors which affect tastes beyond, not just natural born ones, such as time and personal experience. Culture can give us a background of how we see art, however we do not always base art solely on culture because we have different personal experiences and our unconsciousness of other people’s opinions’ intake so culture is actually an element of taste itself,. Taste is the ultimate tool we use to perceive art; it is true that we solely base art on taste. However in condition, I have to make it clear that tastes can change, distorted and transformed by factors beyond based on each individual.