What is (good) Art

 Intro

Although I am interested in Art and aim to like a wide variety, I often see Art which I don't think is very good.

This article provides some musings on the subject, many of which come from Wikipedia which I believe to be the fount of most knowledge (academics can be a bit sniffy about it).

Wiki

Wikipedia has an excellent article "Classifactory disputes about Art"

Ancient China had six arts  and the nine Muses embodied the Greek arts

The French generally recognise / classify 10 arts.  The first six are traditional with four newer ones developed over the last century.

A good starting point is whether to include Conceptual Art, immortalised by Marcel Duchamp's "Fountain", a mass-produced urinal.

Conceptual Art is "art in which the concepts or ideas involved in the work are prioritized equally to or more than traditional aesthetic, technical, and material concerns".

From my perspective I generally give this a big "NO". I believe art should offer more than this.

Below are provided some "notable" examples  and some more recent disputed works.

Definitions

Google AI provides a good starting point for what is art.

It also makes a good effort at describing Good Art

Good Art

Google AI definitions seem fine to me.

One "arty" definition which I have paraphrased is "art is what people who call themselves artists say they produce".

One could also try "art is what can potentially be bought and sold at art auctions".  Good art has a higher price / value.

The easiest way forward is to say that good art is what I like and to be prepared to say how much one likes it and why.

Some characteristics I try to include:

Can I see great technical skill in producing the work?
Is there a strong message being communicated by the work which I can detect?
Is it beautiful / enjoyable to experience?

Do I want to spend some time experiencing the work or seeing it repeatedly?
Does it stimulate me to think further on the subject?

I believe that covers it, surprisingly.