An odd, but nice gentleman walked into the gallery yesterday, had a look around then walked up to me and asked what I think art is. I thought for a second then answered the question, but my response left me feeling dissatisfied and got me thinking - how DO I define art? A word which in many ways is quite indefinable... In the elevator leading to my apartment, one element of what I think art is struck me. Art above all things possess 'soul' and encourages us to imagine, feel and wonder. It's different to science and mathematics although I do feel the 2 disciplines are intimately linked. Where as science and math use invention to create definitive answers, art uses invention to create additional questions. It's a dance between the art object and it's observer. Good art has spirit, it convinces us to pay attention to it and to explore it's identity, almost in the same way that nature does.

Immanuel Kant assumed that the cognition involved in judging fine art is similar to the cognition involved in judging natural beauty... The effect is an associated 'expansion' of the concept beyond its determinate bounds. The art object is not merely an object, but one which will set the imagination and understanding into a harmony, creating a kind of self-sustaining and self-contained feeling of pleasure and wonder.

Art comes in many shapes and disciplines but I think that it is this element of it sets it apart. I just recently saw a piece by George Horner ' Art is a Verb ' and I think it's not only a wonderful piece, but a great definition for art itself. [caption id="attachment_13907" align="aligncenter" width="511"] Art is Verb - George Horner[/caption]

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