What IS the Point of Art?

This post is dedicated to my husband Mark and my friend Jac who ask me all the time "What is it?", "What are you going to do with it?" and "What's the point of it?" My standard answer to those questions is " Does it have to be anything?", " I have no idea" and "Because it's fun".

Because it's fun. Because I enjoy it. Probably the most important reasons to do anything! I think because visual art uses physical materials (unlike music, dance or drama) people think that it should have a practical application, like a bottle opener or a shoe. Whats the actual use of a famous painting in a gallery?  You can't eat it, drive it, wear it or use it in any practical way. That's not the reason artists make art. Some things might turn out to have a useful purpose but generally they don't.

We all sing, perhaps in the shower or in the car or if we are any good in a choir or band. Singing doesn't make an object with a practical application, it doesn't make you fit and healthy or lose weight. It's just like visual art in that it doesn't have a practical application. But no one asks you "What's the point of singing, is singing pointless?"

I think we all have an understanding of why we sing. We enjoy it, it's great for communicating feelings to others, if we're any good it gives pleasure to others. We feel a sense of achievement from creating something from nothing. It's the same with dance or drama. The same with art.

No one says "What's the point of taking a photograph?" We all know it's to preserve a memory, express an emotion, or for the pure visual pleasure we get from looking at the result. Perhaps it's the sense of achievement or creativity we get from capturing the scene in a new way. Maybe we just enjoy it!

No one asks "Whats the point of going to see (or perform in) a play, performance, dance or show?". We all instinctively know the point is to entertain us, to express a feeling or a story, to make something where nothing existed before.

Visual art is exactly the same. Artists make art to express a feeling or a story, to record an event, to make something where nothing existed before, to give the viewer pleasure, to make something beautiful and pleasing to the eye and mostly to have fun.

And that's the most important thing. To have fun. To enjoy what you do. If you don't enjoy what you are doing do something else. Performing on the stage sounds like one of the worst experiences ever to me, that's why I don't do it. A musician my detest dancing. An actor might not enjoy painting. But remember it doesn't have to have a practical application or be enjoyable to everyone to have a purpose. The purpose might be something completely different.