Art must be defined, not by what it is in the physical universe, but by the effect it has on the observer. Great piece of art, regardless of genre, takes you on a spiritual journey. It creates a world inside each consumers individual mind. This world or journey is hard to describe precisely because it is in its nature spiritual and as such imprecise. It is a mass of emotions and images produced by the mind from the raw material of the artwork itself.
Any descriptions of an artwork whether it be attempts to place it within a tradition, analysing its message, describing the techniques used etc. are nothing but incomplete attempts at describing this world, and can never do justice to the piece itself or the world it creates within each of us.
Plato states that art is inferior to philosophy since art is an attempt at making a copy of the physical world which again is a copy of the world of ideas which is where true reality is found, while philosophy describes the world of ideas directly. Using this terminology, my view is that true art never refers to the physical world at all. Even for paintings in the figurative tradition this is true. The artwork creates a world of ideas of its own, which is only relevant in relation to the work itself and the one experiencing it.
It is primarily the depth and complexity of this inner world that grants any work of art it´s quality, the wealth of inner experiences it has to offer. Certain musical pieces for example, when listened to can assail the mind with images it´s eyes has never seen and emotions it´s heart has never felt. It is in the uniqueness of these experiences the work´s originality lies, and though of no value in itself, originality coupled with great depth can set in motion such inner happenings as can completely numb the brain with it´s force, or tear it´s owner away from reality immersing her completely in the world of it´s making. Indeed, the perfect work of art would render anyone exposed to it completely insane!
There are many types of art that do not have the creation of inner worlds as their goal, but rather points to the outside world. I deem them completely worthless.
