What is art? We look for a definition. Underlying the idea of any definition is a picture. I believe that the picture of any definition is a circle. Let me clarify: A definition is a circle that surrounds things. So, the definition of art is an idea that circles everything that we could call "art".
I do not believe that "art" (the idea) is a circle this way. Instead, the definition of art is a liquid or foam or mabybe even a branching of veins into human perception. It penetrates each individual consciousness slightly differently. So, when the question ("What is art?") comes up, I have to answer with a specific sense of what art is for ME.
Art for ME is painting. Since I got to painting from a direction different than art theory or art education or formal painting instruction, I realized late that I might be classified as an abstract expressionist or action painter. Because of the path I followed to get to painting, I believe that abstract expressionists or action painters have a profound importance beyond historical descriptions of them. I believe that the painters assigned to this group have a deeper importance to the definition of art than even some of the artists themselves have realized.
Human action is the ultimate foundation of any art. Originally, this action has little to do with expression, in the usual sense of a consciously intended thing. Instead, the original actions of art have to do more with "expression" in the way philosopher Maurice Merleau-Ponty spoke of expression. He spoke of sight, hearing, touch--- perception in general ---as a style of the human body's expression in its own right. In other words, before any formal thought about being an expressive organism ever occurs, our senses already are expressing their design on consciousness. Seeing, itself, is a body expression--- a style of receiving light and shaping it uniquely with respect to the human structure. This expression is an unconscious resonance of body with world.
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