Note from the Editor

This week’s theme is addressing the question, “What is art?” Among the humanities, this is a vital, and frightening, question. In defining art, we waver perilously between a definition too broad and one too narrow. In attempting to define art, we strive to define the infinite with finite medium and logicWith such matters requiring delicate balance, it is not surprising that seeking a definition of art has raised many discussions and, after many millennia, no answer. Bearing all this in mind begs the question of why: why should we bother to add another trifling footnote to the countless pages devoted to art? Truly, if art were defined down to the last dab of paint, the last musical note, or the last syllable, would it still be art? . A teacher of mine once explained that good music was the proper combination of chaos and form—providing something new and surprising, yet with elements that the reader will understand and recognize. So too with defining art.

Ultimately, it is the task of defining art which forces the artists to define their goals because, quite simply, the goal of any artist is art. In answering the question of what, the artist, while never fully reaching an understanding, comes closer to it. There lies the beauty: art is an ideal never obtained, yet always pursued, and, in striving for the lofty concept of art, the artist exceeds all expectations.