Art is the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power.
Contemporary artists have been stretching and distorting this definition to the point where, to some, their product wouldn’t even appear to be art to the untrained eye. Expressions picked the brains of three San Luis Obispo High School students about their definition of contemporary art.
Expressions: What is your definition of contemporary art?
Freshman Dylan Rice: I don’t know what that is.
Senior Vallerio Pancotti: Something that has never been done. Because history is long, artists are now trying to create something new. It is kind of hard to understand contemporary art because art has been around for so long, the originality of art is now only in the weird and abstract.
Freshman Omar Mendoza: I’m not super sure.
Expressions: How has art affected your you life and or perspective on the world?
Rice: Art has not influenced my life whatsoever.
Pancotti: Art provides a different way to see things.
Mendoza: Yes, it has since art is basically what makes the world a little different. Art is a form of expression.
Expressions: Is Contemporary art the epitome of the postmodern generation directly plagiarizing from the past and calling it original?
Rice: Could you please repeat the question in english?
Pancotti: No.
Mendoza: It could be. Many artists take influence from the past.
Expressions: Is Art a creative energy manifesting into a visual form meant for the intense intellectual stimulation of others?
Rice: Yes!
Pancotti: Yes.
Mendoza: Yes like I said, Art is a form of expression.