What is art? The first result on Google defines it as “the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in the form of painting, music, literature and dance.” This definition, however, is inadequate. It doesn’t take into account the beauty and grace of a 10-page research paper crammed to the margins or the emotional depth of a photo on Instagram of a Starbucks coffee, cupcakes in a bakery or a puppy wearing a hat against its will.
Art is so much more than society’s conventional and outdated ideas of it. Art is expending more effort on perfecting your hair and outfit in the morning than you did studying for your test the night before. Art is buying a rattlesnake, naming it Steve and then moving to Los Angeles with Steve because screw Mom and Dad I’m gonna sell t-shirts out of a kiosk in the hipster neighborhood of Los Angeles. For all intents and purposes, art is in the eyes of the beholder. For example, the beholder might be holding her iPhone in front of her face, aimed at a tree just beginning to change colors. You know, like, when the leaves aren’t, like, quite at that perfect red yet? Like, they’re getting there and every day it’s, like, a little closer, but, like, wow! When they really change it’s gonna be so magical!
In a way, one could argue that most everything surrounding us is art. My laptop’s uber creative wallpaper depicting a really generic mountain with a sky that’s so colorful that you know it’s computer-generated is art. Heck, even the stickers on my laptop that let people know I’m an individual expressing my individuality through logos that everyone else has is art. Why, you ask? Because it’s ironic, of course! Whenever anyone says an outfit is too basic, a song too overplayed or a pair of Uggs too overused, they are only revealing their own embarrassing ignorance. To any doubters or haters who say that your Yik Yak account is obnoxious, just explain to them that you only downloaded it ironically. When they, in turn, ask why you post at least five times a day, remind them that it’s only to keep up the appearance that you care.
Understanding this, we can now realize that everything is art. Even this article is art. Even this article.
Mistler-Ferguson is a member of
the class of 2018.
