Art for whose sake?

It’s a difficult question to answer when you aren’t clear about the purpose of your work. Who am I intending this work for? In regards to art, the objective can become convoluted, because it’s easy to assume that the title of “artist” takes care of the explanation for art. An easy way to evade the answer is to say art is for art’s sake. As though art is an entity, but that explanation lands at the feet of no one and will have little to no impact. What is art for and who is it for, is what we need to understand.

Is it merely the expression of myself through various mediums? Well it certainly could be. I would liken that type of art to a diary and most people don’t care about the contents of anyone’s diary but their own. For me, that isn’t what my art is for. Art is not for the sake of itself or just myself, but for the sake of others. Art is a vehicle for vision and a way to commune with one another.

It’s usually easier to identify who you intend your art for than what it’s for. Expounding on our understanding of the role of the artist, both personally and theoretically, will help in discovering what art is for. I will delve into this more in a future post.