Justifying Art...

I feel that the creation of a piece of art is justified by what it’s trying to accomplish. In that light, there are several ways to justify art making, for example: communication, therapeutic purposes, and to make money.

Firstly, communication is the general, overarching justification for art. Though an artist is paying massive amounts of money to say something, it’s really his ticket to make a statement, whether it regards politics, environmentalism or any other personal opinion. Displaying art puts forth a totally different dimension of saying something— it gives people a way to communicate without literally speaking to each other, a visual aid in understanding an idea. So ultimately, the effort put into buying materials and spending time is justified by the silent, mental and emotional connections made among the artists and viewers.

In the same way, art therapy is a means of communication for those who are socially incapable of normal verbal communication (or are not functioning normally). However, the cost and time spent are also justified, in this case, by the medicinal properties of art making— it promotes the expression of feelings, which can serve as therapy to clients or patients that need it. And this idea of therapy justifying art leads to the idea of personal fulfillment in creation.

Not only is art justified by the connections people make with others, but it can be personally fulfilling for the artist as well. This is similar to the justification for art therapy, only that it doesn’t require the relationship between two people. Many artists’ justifications of using money and materials are simply that they want to. Art making is a personal experience that enhances an artist’s wellbeing, and the expression connecting the individual to the canvas may just be worth it.

Finally, to justify art making, there is the idea of monetary profit. In this way, an artist’s success/profit gain in selling out to consumers justifies the initial money spent on materials and time on labor. Sometimes—probably most of the time— this is seen as a very shallow reason to make art, but it’s inevitably the driving force of many artists. Many amount success to the fatness of one’s wallet.

Ultimately, these are just a few things that justify art making. There are a vast array of justifications, many of them much more specific than these. And to those who argue that there really is no existent justification to art— I’m sure that art would be much more sparse than it is if its justifications didn’t hold true.