Art

 

In chapter 7 McCloud defines art as “any human activity which doesn’t grow out of either of our species’ two basic instincts: survival and reproduction” (McCloud 164). The author gives examples of scenarios when human beings are idle (that is, no longer pursuing reproduction and survival) and engage in activities to which they do not pay much attention. According to the author, such activities amount to art. Although things have changed much of late, the author’s definition of art still holds true largely.

According to me, I would define art as the expression of human thought in a creative manner capable of being discerned using the five senses. In this regard, art must be thought of in advance before it can be expressed. Otherwise, it would be a meaningless art. In other words, the artist must have a goal in making any art. He or she must achieve this goal in the art to be successful. Unfortunately, this has nothing to do with reproduction and survival in McCloud’s sense.

Terence Koh is a famous Chinese-Canadian performance artist. An example of his performance art depicts how he creates concepts from mixed media work mixed monochromatically. At one time, the artist crawled for 25 days round a mound of rock salt in what he regarded as a minimalist rite. Similarly, the art below demonstrates ritualistic elements (Galperina 1). I would say that this art fits into my definition of art because the artist does not come up randomly with the concepts. He sits down and plans before starting to work on the art. Even the way he arranges his artifacts proves that greater thought has gone into the whole thing. The five senses can then discern the performance in various ways.

 

Works Cited

Galperina, Marina. 10 Contemporary Performance Artists You Should Know. Flavorwire, 2011. Web.

McCloud, Scott. Understanding Comics: the Invisible Art. New York City: HarperCollins Publishers Inc, 1994. Print.