sightbyvisionWed, Jan 9, 2008 feanne, art does not enable people to survive, and if our goal (or practice) is survival, then art is impractical.
I'm speaking in absolute terms, though. In some circumstances, for example if you can sell your artwork, then art is practical because it gives you the money to buy food. But ultimately, we cannot eat our paintings, they do not shelter us (in the literal sense), they do not sustain our physical bodies. And without our physical bodies, we die. So art, in an ultimate sense, is not practical.
But this is only if your primary goal is to survive (and this is the goal for many people; perhaps that's why there's a misconception that art is not practical). If you want to live a life with meaning, then art becomes very practical because art is suited for the purpose of giving meaning. And something is practical if it is "available or applicable in practice; suitable for a particular purpose; functional; (of an idea, plan, or method) likely to succeed or be effective in real circumstances; feasible" (oed.com). If our practice is giving meaning, then art is most practical.
The incompatibility between art and practicality I suggested only as a tension, and this tension exists because art is not a practical activity to survive.
feanne, art does not enable people to survive, and if our goal (or practice) is survival, then art is impractical.
I'm speaking in absolute terms, though. In some circumstances, for example if you can sell your artwork, then art is practical because it gives you the money to buy food. But ultimately, we cannot eat our paintings, they do not shelter us (in the literal sense), they do not sustain our physical bodies. And without our physical bodies, we die. So art, in an ultimate sense, is not practical.
But this is only if your primary goal is to survive (and this is the goal for many people; perhaps that's why there's a misconception that art is not practical). If you want to live a life with meaning, then art becomes very practical because art is suited for the purpose of giving meaning. And something is practical if it is "available or applicable in practice; suitable for a particular purpose; functional; (of an idea, plan, or method) likely to succeed or be effective in real circumstances; feasible" (oed.com). If our practice is giving meaning, then art is most practical.
The incompatibility between art and practicality I suggested only as a tension, and this tension exists because art is not a practical activity to survive.