Art as Communication

592 Words2 Pages

From the dawn of humanity, mankind has made and been fascinated by a strange and unique concept: the idea of art. This phenomenon has no immediate, practical use; it feeds no mouths and protects no young. Yet even in the most primitive cave-dwellings of 30,000 years ago, we have evidence of artwork. Though these cave drawings may be completely different from the naturalistic masterpieces of the Renaissance, and those still very unlike the abstract images of today, all fit into the broad genre of art called painting. What do these have in common? Why do we call them all “art?” At its most basic, art is a form of communication. Art is an expression of emotion, designed by a human as a means of communicating that emotion to other humans.

Art is by far the most expressive form of communication that humans understand. The shading and colors of a picture, the moving lines in the body of a dancer, or the fluid harmonies of a song reach a depth that simple conversation never can. A piece of art creates a resonance within the viewer, a feeling both of re...

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