What is art?
At some point, long ago, I thought art was drawing and painting.
But later I realized it was more than that, singing, dancing, writing, acting, it's just so many.
And then again, I made a mistake by thinking it's all about perfection and skills, but I am thankful I found it was even deeper than I thought; it is also about passion and expression. Note that I didn't say it's not about skills and even perfection, although I don't really like using the word perfection. You know what? Let's go with skill. Because you see people saying it's all about passion and expression, but let's be honest, there are people out there who have the skill and are just good at it, and what I can't do is discredit their work.
When it comes to the question—is there anything like bad art?
I ask myself another question—who decides what the saying “bad arts” actually means?
When it comes to this I believe what should be considered more is the expression—the meaning behind the art—the message the artist is trying to convey through the art. Yeah, art can also be communication.
And also it isn't supposed to reach or please everyone. It's meant to make someone feel something, even if just one person—even if it's the artist.
I feel myself as a person, I have always connected with art that has a story behind it, an emotional one at that, more than arts that look far better. I have songs that aren't in the top 10 of my most-played list or even my top best list, but when I listen to them once in a while, I feel different, I feel something.
These days, most of the time, what people call bad art is art they just don't understand.
Art doesn't even have to be perfect or beautiful to become art. The effort put in making art also counts, the process counts.
I also think bad art can be judged by intention and morality.
Imagine this: during the time of slavery there was a master and a slave.
The slave paints a picture of himself being punished by his master, he expresses his pain and sorrow, and his master's wicked heart.
Then the master paints the exact same thing, with the same expression.
The paintings are the same, but the slave's own is powerful—an expression of truth and suffering, injustice, and survival. While the master's own glorifies his cruelty, and it is not any less than the truth too.
They both expressed something, they look the same on the surface but they are far from that.
I don't need to guess twice the one you called bad art. In this example, art is like a mirror that the artist looks upon.
Art can be an expression, and like every other thing that exists in life, not all expressions are pure or good.
So maybe bad art exists, not because it's ugly but because of where it comes from.
