Today the word art usually refers to the visual arts; the concept of what art is has continuously changed over centuries. The best definition of art would be – art refers to all creative endeavors, excluding actions directly related to survival and reproduction. The word “art” comes from the Latin word “ars”, when translated, means “arrangement” or “to arrange”. It is often disputed that art cannot be defined, because each person’s standards for judging what is or is not are completely subjective. The institutional theory of art is a theory about the nature of art that holds that an object can be art in the context of the institution known as “the art world”. George Dickie first expressed “institutional theory of art” in 1974. A lot of people rejected this because their pieces did not meet the criteria. The confusion about the term “art” comes from two references; the first is that multiple meanings of the word are often used interchangeably in conversation. The second is that in the modern world, art is often seen as belonging to one class and excluding others.

Art, to some people can be seen as a high-status activity. Most people judge whether something is or is not art based on their knowledge, education, and other social factors. So if a person were taught that anything with specifically light and dark value is art, seeing someone with a color drawing would not be considered art to that person based on what that person was taught. People that judge other peoples art are not completely subjective because in order for someone to judge an art piece, they would have to know something about art.

Art is simply a broad term for any product of the imagination. Having a creative imagination is what has brought about all the amazing artwork we have today. The artists had the will to try something new, even if it did seem out of the norm. Thinking outside of the box is what makes art, art. Art can be expressed in many different forms, including, photography, painting, drawing, sculpting, writing, music, videos, comics, etc. So who is to say what art really is. It can mean many things to different people, because everyone’s brain does not process the same way. So I think art can be whatever a person wants it to be because everyone is different.