What is art?

     This post is about a conversation I had with a man a few weeks ago in downtown San Antonio, Texas.  Since May when I jumped onto the photography train I have been talking with everyone I see that has a camera, asking them what model they have, why they like it and what attracts them to photography. It's a great way to network and pick up some fun tips along the way. One day I came across a man who is currently enrolled in a master's program for photography in San Antonio. He had a Canon 5D MkII and a wicked awesome lens that far exceeds my current understanding of picture taking ability. See it here Canon TS-E 24mm Tilt-Shift. After the usual banter of why he prefers Canon over Nikon and what he was doing in town, our conversation took an unusual turn into art and its meaning. I rarely get philosophical in my own life, let alone with a man I just met in the front of my store. The statement that I remember most from our conversation was his idea that 'art is pain'. We explored what he meant by that a little more and he gave an example of a few artists (the names of which I have since forgotten) that dealt greatly with the influence of pain, hurt and sorrow in life. One of them had taken a picture of her sister each day when she was diagnosed with a disease. I also remember him saying something to the effect of, "each day is a tragedy that leads us closer to death." He later went on to explain color patterns and their meanings and we eventually ended up at discussing the importance of the histogram when shooting. I never will figure out how we went from pain and death to the histogram in a matter of 15 minutes. Normally I would think he was a little off his rocker but I could at least tell he was an intelligent person with a deep philosophical mindset. For all I know he could have been testing out his graduate thesis to see how it would be received by a t-shirt salesmen. I literally meet with hundreds of people a day working in a tourist mecca right next to the Alamo and get to briefly know many of them, so it's fairly significant that I specifically remember this conversation with this man about his idea that art is pain.

     Before this conversation I had never really contemplated the meaning of art with much intensity or  depth. I had taken a few art classes while in school and have personally been to the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, California and the Louve in Paris, France. I have seen beautiful pieces of art spanning multiple centuries in person and most recently been exposed to wonderful photographers capturing stunning images from across the globe and to even connect with them through the Internet. My previous interactions with high art and photography have been from a historical angle and the ability to capture a moment in time. I am a fairly simple minded person and can respect and understand great things in the world. Although, I had never equated strong emotion or deep messages to photography or historical pieces of art. This recent conversation I had with this man has begun to change my previous thinking process and challenge the way I view the world around me. By no means have I come to terms with the idea that 'art is pain'. This encounter has allowed me to begin my journey to better define what I think art is. I waited to write about my story with this man because I have been trying to figure out how I felt and if I could come to a reasonable conclusion or better define it for myself. My initial attempts have been centered around beauty, wonder and creation. After a few weeks I have slowly come out of my own think tank and come to the realization that, "What is art?" is one of the most amazing questions of our humanity that may never have a single worded answer. If I have learned anything about art and photography in recent weeks it's that art is evolutionary and will continue to expand and change the way we view the world around us.