Why are people comfortable with merely consuming art?

Lots of people like and even appreciate art. Not as many people have the technical skills or creative sense of life to produce it. Not much for them to do but consume it.

1. Yes
2. My innate artistic ability was not nurtured, mentored, cultivated, etc.
3. No

P.S. I’ve self-identified as a scientist/mathematician/statistician since childhood. I did not have the opportunity to partake of the arts at my science/technology high school (since there were none… not even school plays) and chose not to in college.

@Cupcake – this makes sense. But do you ever doodle with a pencil, or sing while you are in the shower, or make a plate of mashed potatoes into something beautiful? Is it possible that you are expressing yourself in a creative way but it’s too small for even you to notice?

I know that science requires a ton – and much of it is creative, but in a different way.

I’d believe most of this has to do with the fact that people don’t believe they have the ability to create art even if they do or they simply do not possess that ability at all. And if they do, it may be limited and on a much smaller scale than the art they admire. For example, I listen to classical music regularly but my compositions are extremely limited. I have composed some music, but since I don’t have the capability to compose on the level of the artists I admire, I prefer more to listen to music rather than to write it.

I also enjoy admiring the photography of others, though I myself enjoy taking pictures. The difference is that I take pictures of what I consider beautiful, rather than trying to create pictures as “art”. My pictures could belong in a magazine or in a stock photo collection, but not in a gallery.

It’s not that I don’t create, I do. I’ve written stories, written some music, taken photographs, etc. but I am not all that good in any of those fields. I still enjoy doing it, though, but there’s no surprise that I consume it more than I create it.

Now creating a language is something I can do, even if it’s not exactly “art”...

@tom_g If you recognize small things like making a nice plate of mashed potatoes or singing in the shower, then how do you anyone who only consumes? I’ve never met someone who didn’t have some small creative outlet – but that’s different than creating paintings for others to consume.

I create…(small proof my current avatar 05/30/11) ;-)

I’m just not into creating art. I can’t draw, paint, play instruments etc. and I don’t have the time to hone any skills such as these because they don’t seem to pay off well unless you’re already “gifted” (and various other reaons).

@MyNewtBoobs – I’m trying to figure it out. I know we live in a culture of consumption. We are defined by the products we buy, the tv shows we watch, etc. I suppose in a way, I hope that art is not just another one of these things. Maybe people are just embarrassed by their creations, or have standards of what is considered art that go well beyond my own. I don’t know. I am enjoying the responses though.

I have an artists heart but not an artists hands. I can’t draw or cut a straight line. I do appreciate art however, and have an eye for putting it together well. I’m glad I married a contractor and he let’s me do some design consulting because my appreciation for art becomes my art.

@Judi: “me do some design consulting because my appreciation for art becomes my art.”

Interesting. This is something that I haven’t considered (curation as a form of art).

Consumers of art are who help make art possible. Can’t imagine how much art would not exist if artists couldn’t make a living doing so. I play guitar just because I can and hear all the time from people who say they wish they could play guitar or piano. ;)

I mostly create art. Consumption—not so much. I’m a bad boy. I should pay more attention to what other people are doing. I’m too fucking lazy, though. It’s just easier to make my own music than the wade through a gazillion other pieces of music to try to find something I like.

As far as why more people don’t create art? Easy. All their childhoods they were told they couldn’t mess with that. If they did mess with it, they were told they couldn’t do it and they’d never be any good. Leave art to the professionals.

If we only stopped saying “no” to our kids, we’d have a lot more satisfied people who would be messing around with artistic stuff all the time.

@Cruiser: That’s right. Not related to my question, but correct.

@Cruiser While I think what you say is utter nonsense, there could be something to it. Look at the music industry. Everyone and their brother has Garage band. Everyone can put out music, and the world is flooded with all kinds of music.

With the increasing popularity of photoshop, the same thing is happening for art. Everyone can do it. But despite that, everyone wants to see the good ones. There’s always a market for the good ones.

@wundayatta – I think you’re onto something. I have 3 kids and we do not own coloring books. They don’t seem that interested in them, and we have encouraged their creative works. They will dig through the house for aluminum foil, string, duct tape, paint, cardboard, etc. and come up with the most amazing works of art. We know parents who discourage such things because it makes a mess of the house. They stick a disney coloring book in front of the kids and hand them a box of crayons. I feel sick even thinking about it.

One thing to consider is that our mirror neurons involve us in a participatory way when we view or listen to art. It’s kind of like watching professional athletes—when we see athletes perform, our brains “mirror” the actions of the athlete so that, as far as the motor cortex is concerned, we just did those actions. Much of art works the same way.

Most forms of art are, in some sense, records of gesture, if not gesture itself. When we view those records, our mirror neurons reconstruct in our motor cortices the experience of making those gestures. We become not just passive consumers, but participants. This is a large component of why we find art so enthralling. Japanese calligraphers, for example, rely almost entirely on this phenomenon for the power of their art.

I went to the Art Institute of Chicago yesterday and saw some amazing bamboo baskets by a contemporary Japanese artist. I was very aware while looking at them that I was actually feeling in my own mind how those slivers of bamboo would respond to my hands, even though I’ve never messed with slivers of bamboo.

Most music is, of course, gesture transformed into sound. Brain studies have demonstrated that expressive music causes the mirror neurons to register the music as action in the motor cortex.

How do you define art? Is it an action that brings satisfaction to the performer and to a consumer? I see examples of art in that sense every day. Not in composers or painters or sculptors, necessarily, but in my neighbor’s beautifully creative flower garden that I can’t pass without stopping to marvel; in the delicious food my friend prepares; in the creativity in words another friend uses in his emails.
Do you separate arts from crafts or can a craft be an art form also.

With the increasing popularity of photoshop, the same thing is happening for art. Everyone can do it. Photoshop can only do what is programmed into it or what can be loaded into it, and you can’t use it on a mountain side if you have no juice or your battery dies. A good old sketch pad and a box of Prismacolors can work anywhere and can be used to create anything on the fly. It may take a tad longer but the subtle variations Photoshop cannot match many times.

Maybe you have a rudimentary definition of what it means to make art. I suck at the fine arts, but my garden is coming along nicely.

Actually, I abhor the institution of art, which I will not talk about here; however, I have art pieces and I like to admire talent in other people.

I create art for a living.
I have made art for as long as I can remember.
I have sold my art to both artists and non-artists.People have different reasons for collecting art and it matters not one bit to me why they are buying it,although I have heard some very nice reasons.:)

If the work of art exists in its entirety, undiminished and unaffected, after I have witnessed or experienced it, how can I be said to have consumed it?

How many artists think their audiences are too large and would rather see more people out there sawing away on their violins or slinging clay in their studios than admiring their work?

I believe that it takes some effort to be a good audience for art and that a good audience completes the work of the artist. To me that is something for which an artist is properly grateful. Not that there is anything at all wrong with an artist who creates only to please himself; but if he wants his work to be appreciated by others, I do him honor by responding to it to the best of my own ability.

I create more than I consume, I think. At least I do at the moment. I enjoy painting, but I don’t have a lot of time left for looking at other people’s creations.

I like drawing, but it’s therapy to me in some ways. I don’t really consider it art, and I keep it to myself. That’s about as far as I get with the subject beyond consuming art. I don’t know if video games or horror movies can be art beyond just being entertainment, but I consume that.
As I understand it, art is inspiration and motivation. Maybe something people can relate to. Whether or not the artist had succeeded in what they were attempting during creation, art speaks to people, and shakes up the emotions. I assume this is why it’s easy to consume.
In that regard though, it might also be easy to create. But art is a broad spectrum beyond the contemporary fruit bowl type. I won’t label everything that can be created as art, but I’m of the mind that it reaches quite far, far enough for most people to drink from both bowls. Designing clothes, websites, making trinkets and stuff to sell at festivals. I knew this girl who made tiny flowers out of all these materials, and used to stick them on wrapped Xmas and birthday presents. Her wrapped presents were so pretty that we never wanted to unwrap them lol. I’m sure she got more out of that besides just, dude I’m wrapping pressies. I guess it’s not quite the same…but to me, a garage band can be as much art as the great composers.

All great responses. Thanks.

Just to be clear – I know this conversation is dependent on the greater question: “What is ‘art’?”
That’s probably a discussion nobody here wants to get into. I’m sure we all have our own definitions.

For the purpose of this thread, I was hoping to use “art” to mean any type of creative outlet in the traditional sense. The focus was on the balance of consumption and creation, and I should have elaborated on that. For example, when I go to Amazon or iTunes to purchase music, I’m aware that I am purchasing art that I will listen to. When I lay down tracks in Garageband, I’m aware that I am creating art that I may or may not listen to. For some people, they may be gardening, and be aware of the fact that their craft is pure art to them. As far as I am concerned, that’s the same thing.

I have known many people, however, that will go to the MFA on Sunday, see a few bands throughout the week, and never create anything.

@tom_g Yeah, the whole time I was answering this, this whole ’‘definition of art’’ thing was nagging at me. I find it hard answering this without a proper definition, but mine may not reflect that of other people. :/

It could be a naive notion but a woman who lived on Bali most of the year described the atmosphere there as “everyone’s an artist, everyone does something to support the theatre including sweeping up and making the food, everyone’s an artist, and does their work with the artist’s intention to express and communicate”

In this question I think “consumer” could fairly be understood to mean “experiencer”, “witness”, maybe “beneficiary” since there’s a give/take aspect possibly implied or suggested.
But @Jeruba, whatever word we label us with, your description of the audience is superb.
“it takes some effort to be a good audience for art and that a good audience completes the work of the artist.”
It means a lot more if you say “I like it” if you have some idea what comparable work is like, and the good student challenges the master to surpass prior perfections, they both know it when it happens.

@Cupcake nailed a theme “2. My innate artistic ability was not nurtured, mentored, cultivated, etc.” to which I’d add for many “ignored, mocked, discouraged and even forbidden to spend time on ‘artistic’ activity”

@Cruiser that’s a good point I think: “Consumers of art are who help make art possible” in a lot of cases of big/famous art it took a lot of capital to manifest it.
But there’s lots of art that doesn’t register on that sort of scale and plenty of it is better than anything you can buy.

@Judi you sound like a candidate for collage.

I consume Art because it’s so damn delicious. After a heapin’ helpin’ of tasty Art, I trundle in a satiated stupor to my bed and fall asleep. When I awaken, it begins anew—I prowl the alleys sniffing out yet another miserable starving artist to exploit.

For snack size art try art-o-mat

I spent quite a lot of time learning how to create art. I have tried many different mediums. What I have created is satisfying because I created it, but I recognize what is good. And what I created is not good. I’m not going to waste my time with mediocre output. My creative niche is in cooking, which is excellent; and singing which I do with a group, because my singing is not really good enough for solo work. I am happy that people appreciate art without needing to create it. Just as every talker needs a good listener, an artist needs someone to appreciate his/her work.

@ratboy Lol that was pretty epic.

Why are people so comfortable consuming movies, music, books, magazines, games, etc? Because it feels good. (Those are other forms of art, by the way.) Everyone’s got their favorite. Although, if you don’t like a good painting here and there, personally I believe you’re missing out. (Not you personally, that is.)

One of my personal reasons is escapism—which I think applies to most people. To let the story carry you away… and if it’s beautiful then it’s just eye-candy. Looking at nice things feels good! And a good story can touch you emotionally, sometimes even giving you a feeling of relation… nostalgia… sentiment… And it works your brain. :P