How Art Is Interpreted

Art is something that people talk about and look at across the world but as well as providing a public spectacle it can spark debate , conflict and even violence if the art is seen to be provocative or a political or social statement against a powerful individual or government.

Increasingly art is being used across the world as a symbol of social change as well as a form of entertainment.

What Is Art?

Describing art is difficult because art is a work that has been produced and in many cases it can be almost anything so long as it represents something and has a purpose. One key way in which art is spreading in popularity across the world is now across social media and social networks. Thanks to the developments made on social media increasingly art is being viewed and shared online.

Art has a lot of its roots in history and culture and often art is is used for religious symbolism in a variety of different cultures. Nowadays art is regarded as imagery as well as symbolism and there is a very large market for art with some pieces fetching tens of millions and others just a few pounds.

How Is Art Changing?

Art is changing in many different ways around the world. One of the most recent developments on the internet that can be subjectively determined as art are memes. Memes are ideas that are spread through images and text and often portray a humorous situation or concept. An example is shown below.

As well as the widespread circulation of internet memes there is also a lot that can now be done on graphic design programmes in order to make art and this is becoming extremely popular in many parts of the globe.

An example of this phenomenon becoming viral is Japan and Korea. In these countries manga and animes can be developed online on graphic design programmes as well as by pen and paper.

Changing Attitudes To Art

As well as new ways in which art can be designed and spread there have also been widespread attitude changes towards art and how it is perceived in society. A notable example of this has been the governments attitude to street art a.k.a graffiti.

Anonymous street artist “banksy” has been the pioneer of several high profile works across the UK which have attracted lots of media attention and have eventually been sold at auction for millions of pounds. At the start of his career some of banksy’s work was painted over by local councils and dismissed as graffiti.

However as his work grew in popularity there were calls for it to be preserved and eventually people began stealing it as it became clear that his work was worth significant sums of money. The government now sees banksy as a street artist and yet many other street artists across the UK see their work removed and dismissed as graffiti. This again relates back to the subjective nature of artwork overall.