A sentence of 8 lines to define art:

What are we doing?

Defining art that were made by artists passionate about their piece.

Why are we doing it?

To find a single definition that refers to art made by artists who were passionate about their piece when creating.

The oxford dictionary, or, no dictionary for that matter, has one that solely refers to them.

We choose to define solely this type of art (art made by artists who were passionate about the art they’ve made), because:

(i) Art, as a practice, would never have existed without such types of artists who were passionate about creating art.

(ii) It is the most honorable definition to attach art’s reputation to. (This is not denying reality, it’s about having a hierarchy in what should be the prime definition of a word. There exist such hierarchies even in the present dictionary).

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a- Why does the concept needs to be complex?

What is art?

Most people would say, It’s the expression of feelings.

But targeted feelings can only be expressed if you’ve felt them yourself.

So the artist feels intense emotions and then tries to expulse them into the outside world.

In this sense, according to what is colloquially define as art, we hereby prove intense emotions as a prerequisite.

But is someone expressing a joke that made him inexorably laugh (intense feelings), to others, be considered as art?

Would you say, your classmate who keeps making jokes tied to basic contextual elements is an artist?

In real life, no one would say that.

(Considering what happens in real life is important because we live in a society; and there’s no need to disturb reality for endeavors that aren’t absolutely necessary for mankind).

Why would no one say that a student making a joke is an artist who just made art?

Because, even without being aware of it, it is colloquially implied that art needs to be complex to express.

What is there to retain so far?

That art is the expression of intense feelings tied to a concept complex to immediately express. (unlike a student’s jokes whose intense feelings are tied to basic contextual elements and social cues that were simple to immediately express to other comrades).

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Now before confusion arises, we need to define clearly what we mean by 'concept'.

b-What do we mean by 'concept'?

Concept = Style + Substance.

DEFINITION OF STYLE:

Style is the manner in which, you express a given substance.

The existence of a substance implies the existence of a style. The style assembles the multiple separated parts of the substance to form the latter as a unity.

Some substances are conventionally expressed. (But that convention is also their style)

Artists tend to unconventionally express their substance.

c-Initial concept (Co) , Final concept (Cf)

On point a, we’ve said that ‘art is the expression of intense feelings tied to a concept complex to immediately express.’

But the way people imagine things is always different than how things end up being at the end.

So the concept, of the definition alluded to prior, is an imagined one (Co).

And the concept, that the audience can sensorially apprehend after the artist has finished expressing himself, is the real one (Cf).

The definition we’ve seen on point a is then more accurately stated as:

‘Art is the expression of intense feelings tied to a concept, Co, complex to immediately express.’

Co is different than Cf because Co is mental, confusingly or even reductively put together, hence not as clearly represented as Cf.

Co can never be equal to Cf. (As proved at the beginning of this section).

d-Filtering the Initial concept (Co):

We are trying to define art that has been made by artists passionate about their piece.

Two cooks own a restaurant and alternate between shifts. One usually do in the morning, and the other in the evening. One day, one of the cooks needs to travel to see his dying mom, so the first cook needs to do both shifts now for the week. And although both of these cooks are artists (as they make gastronomy), the cook which is now cancelling many personal plans to cook and serve customers – to do art (realize his Co), is drained and unsatisfied by the expected purposes to realize by making this art… that is, honoring the feelings of duty towards his partner who went to see his dying mother.

This type of art is draining for the cook. Whereas, initially, we were trying to define art that has been made by artists passionate about their piece.

In short, the intense feelings apprehended by the artist through Co, and which drive him to make art, should be fulfilling. Not out of duty.

e- Co and the human soul:

Sometimes you feel the necessity to do things faster that you can consciously apprehend with your reason (i.e: you hit your toe/foot, and you want to scream out the pain to expel it).

Expelling pain can be fulfilling for you, but your reason is slower to make you think of that, since, in actual real life situations, when you hit your toe, you would scream out of pain before you would apprehend the knowledge inside your brain saying that ‘expelling pain would be fulfilling for you’.

Hence, in the context of art, it is important to note that it is your soul that perceives whether or not realizing Co would be potentially fulfilling for you… not your reason.

f- Justifying the complexity of Co:

We proved on point (a) that Cf is complex and on point (c) that Co is different than Cf.

We need to prove now that Co is also complex.

In a situation of insignificant constraints, the only thing retaining someone from achieving a project whose mental realization in their head could generate fulfilling feelings, is the complexity to achieve such project on the moment that that desire occurs.

Otherwise, common sense says they would do it right away. => So, any preceding versions of Cf, (Co and Ct), are all complex to express.

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THE DEFINITIONS.

We have made 2 definitions that mean the exact same thing.

The only difference is when art is created by a group of people, or when it is created by a single individual; because we can’t just put “or” or “are” without losing clarity in the definition.

Again, the meaning of both definitions is explicitly the same.

-The definition of art for one single individual:

Art is the expression of a not yet existing concept Co, whose mental realization generates in a flash, positive emotional reactions within the individual; due to the ability of a permanent entity inside them, quicker than their conscious reason, to apprehend the ultimate goals that its host is likely to relish by giving birth to that Co, complex to concretize at the very moment that this desire of expression occurs ; but which, all the same, by trying to achieve it in the sensory world, becomes a concept Cf still complex to realize; before the completion of which, any possible mutation Ct of the initial concept Co over time, although respectively complex to achieve in their entirety too, and this, even in situations where the artist’s free will was only subject to insignificant constraints, had for their soul, potential end goals, it finds fulfilling.

-The definition of Art for groups:

Art is the expression of some not yet existing project, whose mental realization - although different from one worker to another, and each version being complex to achieve at the very moment that these desires occur -, generates in a flash, positive emotional reactions within all the workers involved in the project; due to the ability of a permanent entity inside each of them, quicker than their conscious reason, to apprehend the ultimate goals that their respective host is likely to relish by giving birth to their subjective idea of the project; nonetheless, when attempting together for the realization of what is inside each of them in the sensory world, comes out a now unique but still complex to achieve project ; before the completion of which, any possible mutation of the initial visions of the project in the minds of each worker over time, although respectively complex to achieve in their entirety too, and this, even in situations where their free wills were only subject to insignificant constraints, had for each of their souls, potential end goals that are fulfilling for them.

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Lexicon:

Co and Ct = are concepts that we mentally conceive.

Ct is complex to express just as Co is, (proof on point f).

The terms ‘Mental realization’ is not a tautology.

‘Mental realization’ is another envisionment of oneself realizing those concepts. I can mentally conceive a pretty drawing. I can mentally conceive MYSELF realizing a pretty drawing. These are two separate things.

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The three criterias for a performance to be considered as art in the aforementioned sense:

A- the motivators/drives behind its making should be fulfilling feelings; (not feelings of duty)

B- the achievement needs to be complex for the average adult

C- the final aim of the performance should be something that could be apprehended by at least one of the five human senses.