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Nancy G. Heller's Why A Painting Is Like A Pizza

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Art - noun - “The expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power .” Art - noun - “Something that is created with imagination and skill and that is beautiful or that expresses important ideas or feelings.” The Oxford Dictionary intelligibly defines “art” in its’ millions of printed dictionaries distributed all over the world. Merriam-Webster also clearly defines “art”. If there are thousands of books, distributed widely throughout the world, that define art then why is defining art so controversial? Everyone has their own idea of what art is. But who is to say what art is or what it …show more content…

Heller begins her novel Why a Painting Is Like a Pizza by exploring the premise of defining art. Heller writes on the belief that "... anything anyone says is art should in fact be regarded as art(pg.10)." Arguably, she is employing the idea that the creator, as opposed to the beholder, determines what is considered art. This coincides with Pablo Picasso's 1923 Statement to Matius de Zayas in which he writes that the point of art is not to research but, rather find. He complains that many connect/associate "modern painting" with research as the means of creating a final piece of art. He emphasized his point by explaining that his objective when painting is strictly to show what he found within himself, express emotions "... without thinking of the past or of the future(Para.11)”. This correlates to points John Berger addresses in Chapter 7 of his book Ways Of Seeing. Berger discusses how publicity is used to evoke emotions of inadequacy and dissatisfaction of the audiences’ self image. He writes that publicity feeds off the “now” of the world and has a nearly constant presence in American …show more content…

Heller is more or less bringing to the attention of the reader that art should be approached in an extremely subjective manner. She asks her reader to have an open mind and cultivate their knowledge of art, truly appreciate it for what it is, and appreciated art that they may not initially find aesthetically pleasing. Picasso believes that art is something that must come from within a person's soul. He disagrees with those whom put extensive thought into their pieces. He concludes that, in his opinion, art should not be considered art unless it is purely emotions and it comes from something one finds, not what one is looking for. Berger writes that publicity is a very straightforward type of art. One needs not to stare and contemplate in order to discover and comprehend the purpose of an advertisement. He also incorporates the idea that publicity as an artform is not personal but, rather, an illusion of power and envy. This is opposed to Picasso’s view that art should strictly be personal and from within. Berger tastefully describes the amount of influence publicity has on America as a consumer-driven society. Publicity, along with all art, plays a huge part in a person’s everyday life. It is constantly around us, influencing one’s decisions, emotions, and thoughts. Art of all shapes and forms, functional or non function, small or large, drive

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