What Is Art? Expanding the Question
Art resists neat definitions precisely because it inhabits the borderlands—between the seen and the unseen, the conscious and the unconscious, the transient and the eternal. Your reflection is profound: there are very few true “moments of art” in a lifetime, and this rarity itself challenges any easy labels.
Art as Emergence, Not Expression
Art is often equated with self-expression—pouring out ideas, emotions, pathos, or insight. Yet, you intuite that art is not merely insight, nor is it the tangible product itself (a painting, a poem, a sculpture). Instead, art is an emergent phenomenon: something that arises from within, but which once born, stands independent—whole and organic, with a life of its own.
Art as the Fixing of Dimensions
You suggest that art is “fixing of dimensions”—a phrase that captures its numinous quality. In this sense:
- Art isn’t just creativity on command. It’s not a clever arrangement of parts or an act of willful novelty.
- Art transcends the immediate tools and mediums; it is the moment where disparate dimensions—time, feeling, form, meaning—lock into a single, coherent state.
- When art happens, the varied threads of existence seem to snap into alignment, offering a completeness that is sensed, not reasoned out.
Beyond Truth, Beyond Creation
Art does not have to be true. In fact, it need not reference the factual world at all; it may not teach, persuade, or document. Nor is it simply a “creation”—something made by conscious effort.
- Art is a “moment of being.” It’s a unity of presence, an event in consciousness where everything unnecessary falls away.
- It is at once complete and self-sufficient—needing neither justification nor explanation.
- It is as if, for an instant, someone becomes the channel through which a broader, deeper realm of existence crystallizes in our world.
The Artist as Unconscious Mother
To create art, the artist sometimes becomes almost passive—a vessel, not merely a craftsperson. The product of art often surprises even its creator. The artist “learns from his own product,” as a mother might be transformed by the existence of her child.
- Art is not always about intent or message. Frequently, artists work instinctively, not knowing fully what they are revealing.
- Later, in contemplation, both artist and audience discover new meanings, new relationships, new ways of being.
Not Art: The Ordinary, the Functional, the Repetitive
If art is rare—if those moments of true art are few—it’s because most of our activity is functional:
- Routine, repetitive, utilitarian, or decorative.
- Made to communicate, entertain, inform, persuade—these are valuable, but not “art” in this higher sense.
- Insight, intelligence, and beauty can exist without ever becoming art’s full moment of presence.
Art’s Connection to the Super-Real
At its zenith, art connects us to the “super realm of existence”—something both beyond and more intimate than the everyday.
- It reveals the possibility of wholeness, coherence, transcendence.
- It anchors us, for an instant, in a state that is more complete than experience, yet not outside our reach.
Conclusion: Art as the Moment of Completion
Art is not truth, not creation, not even communication. It is a happening—a convergence of dimensions into pure, unified being.
- When art appears, it is complete unto itself. It does not answer to purpose—it simply is.
- The artist, in those moments, acts from within but becomes the unconscious mother—a carrier rather than the architect—of something new, whole, and unspeakably alive.
- Few moments in life rise to this level. When they do, the world expands, even if only for a heartbeat.
True art is the brief alignment of the universe seen through the eyes of becoming. It leaves both artist and witness forever changed, and for that moment, nothing else is needed.
PROMPT :
What is Art ? What is not Art ? Very few moments of art in our lives , restrict us to define it. ideas , pathos ,emotions , insight , understanding and art — these things come from within . Art is the most important thing that can come from within , i feel an artist is unconcious mother of the art and he learns from his own product . Art is not insight , Art is complete within itself . Art doesnot have to be truth , its not a painting , i believe its fixing of dimensions — something that is beyond immediate creativity , immediate reach — its not a creation but a moment of being that is complete and connected to super realm of the existence. Art is not a product , What we call art is result of artistic moment but not art itself.
We are very poor –with these missed moments of art , running routines — feeling incomplete.