Why does art matter?

Ponderings


“Art is everyone’s story, at the same time.”
—Sue Meng

“Art is anything that isn’t everything else, and it matters because there’s more to life than everything.”
—Julia Kim-Cohen

“Primal expression. It matters because it makes people feel like they’re heard.”
—Rachel Dranoff

“Art is any creation, or anything really, that expresses humanness. From the mind to the hand of the creator, art is a manifestation of authentic human interpretation. In a world where everything is relative, art is the only thing that can be accepted as truth in reality, and that is why we must be so critical in its acceptance as such.”
—Andrew Joia

“Art is all confusing. It keeps us awake.”
—Frank Neher

"Art is creation, imagination, recording, investigation, arbitration, and culmination. It helps define our existence and makes us less alone and frees our frustrations. Of course art matters."
—Anonymous

“Art is human expression. It matters when it makes us feel more human than we did before we experienced it.”
—Travis Scholl

“Art is inspired expression of the mind. It matters because it makes life interesting.”
—Jonathan Dronoff

“As Dostoevsky is the novelist of ideas, art is the visual expression of concepts. This matters because when artists communicate their concepts the viewer gains an intellectual understanding from a mere visual medium.”
—Jessica Svendsen

“Art is an expression of beauty. It matters because you are able to put what you are feeling at the moment through your paint/drawing.”
—James Christophe

“Art is a visual expression that moves you. All you need to know or feel about art is its power. Possibly it will teach you about yourself.”
—Presca Ahn

“Art is the expression and interpretation of life in all its forms, whether human, animal, or plant. Art matters because everybody needs to reflect on the human condition and art is the ultimate mirror—past, present, and future.”
—Diana Miller

“Art is what people care about—what they love and hate.”
—Kate Williams

“Art matters because it incorporates our ‘wise mind,’ enveloping a logical and emotional presence, allowing us to think and feel. It gives us an opportunity to be free.”
—Helena Chan

“The ability to invoke emotion in a way that is not easily replicated, and feeling emotion is a definitive part of living.”
—Jason Smith

“Art is something beautiful that many people love. If we did not have art, life would not matter.”
—Julia Joy

“Art is something created by humans that alters the emotional state of the viewer. It matters because it is one of the few ways that people can step back and consider their society on a different level.”
—Elissa Dunn

“An expression so subtle that people need to see it.”
—Suchitra Paul

“Art is what we create, partake, and explore in order to itch at the void and celebrate humanity.”
—Adam Horowitz

“Art really defies definition, because as soon as anyone imposes a definition on it, someone else will reject and transcend that definition in their creation of something new, be it concrete or otherwise. It matters because without it I would have nothing to do with myself.”
—Ani Katz

“Art is the snapshot of human despair.”
—Parsa Khalili

“An intention. Everything should have a purpose and a reason for being.”
—Lee Cohnstaedt

“Art is anything that anyone finds beautiful, curious, exciting, or thought provoking. Anything that is exciting must be important.”
—Patrick Sullivan

“To express your feelings.”
—Ezra (age 8)

“Art is the impractical aspect of everything. It matters because life is sad if it consists only of practicality."
—Andrew Houck

“Art is opening up of eyes, minds, hands, and art is putting things together and taking things apart, and art matters because it is universal.”
—Alice Buttrick

“Art is anything that speaks to your spirit through the language of your eyes.”
—Matthew Robinson

“Purposeless endeavor (answer to both parts.)”
—Anonymous

“Art is beauty, pleasure, and any attempt (whether fruitful or futile) to achieve so.”
—Anonymous

“I am art, and it matters because we live.”
—Uri Hershberg

“Art is beautiful. My son loves it.”
—Anoymous

“Art is all in the mind, so of course it matters!”
—Shira Ninio

“Art is the human contribution to nature, enviously mirroring its beauty, but introducing human error.”
—Aaron Mishara

“Wal-mART!?!”
—Stephanie Muche

“Art is the expression of the soul. It matters because it is the most beautiful way for the soul to speak.”
—Jennifer Scholl

“Art is life. It matters because without it can you live dead?”
—Krasimir Spasov

“Art is an appreciated hybrid of individuality and collectiveness that matters. Why? Because you are part of it and you are in it.
—Anne W.Q. Tang

“It makes you want to be alive.”
—Anonymous

“Art is the expression of the human soul—pain, beauty, love, fear—all of its truth.”
—Theresa Voss

“Art is plumage for the soul.”
—Thomas John McGovern

“Art is where imagination becomes form and substance. It matters because we make it.”
—Anne Hamilton

“Art is the footprint of humanity, a map of the human soul, and a testament to its evolution.”
—Breanna Jedrzejewski

“Art is what we treat as art; it is a communication in any medium from one human mind to another or many, a message and signal to the lightness and darkness that make up the human element.”
—Yen Duong

“Art is a way to show reality that may not be as apparent at first look, or first hearing, or first thought.”
—Bill Yario

"Art is expression that inspires, and inspiration begets progress."
—B. Hazen

"Art is creative expression. It communicates through time, class, heritage, religion, gender, and stereotype. Art is a historical blueprint of human vision and imagination."
—Rhonda Swoope

"Art is a personal expression. It is part of the reason why individual life matters."
—Lei Bai