Art has a very loose definition. Whether or not you happen to agree with someone else’s interpretation of what one could consider “art”, there’s no denying that neither yours nor anyone else’s definition can be proven correct.
The origination of art developed from early humans slowly beginning the understand the world around them. At that time, no one really had concerns about perspective, balance, or scale as they sketched their dinner on the side of their cave. Art served as a method for keeping track of humans’ unfamiliar surroundings, not as an aesthetically pleasing decor item to hang on your wall. Most people wouldn’t place a neanderthal's cave painting on the same level as the Mona Lisa, but they would still consider both as pieces of art despite the clear technical and purpose-serving differences. Why?
I personally believe that the whole idea of art is to make humans think. While the cavemen certainly weren't thinking ahead to how people in 2018 would interpret their drawings of cows on caves, clearly people are still trying to decipher them. Art allows the human race to capture life through different lenses. Through art, we’re now able to look back at certain people, places, or times and gather ideas about what humans considered valuable in their lives. The cavemen spent most of their time focused on their next meal, therefore they captured their desires on the sides of their homes. As humans evolved, so did their mental capabilities. Around 15,000 years after some of the first cave drawings, Ancient Greece flourished with ideas of great deities that ultimately took priority in the Grecian lifestyle. The Greek’s devoutness to their gods/goddesses reflects itself clearly in the artwork of the time. In order for someone to devote hours upon hours of their time to simply provide a visual representation of their religion, it must have served a massive purpose in their society.
Technically, everything that humans create is intentional and representational. Even if I were to blindly scribble onto a piece of paper, there was still a reason I chose to be blindfolded, and surely someone could draw some sort of interpretation from a paper filled with scribbles. The whole world consists of art, whether it appears obvious or not. Every mundane, seemingly meaningless, man-made object you encounter during your day, was designed and created by someone with an intention in mind. Even if that intention is purely monetary, the artist still produced a vision and managed to create something that didn’t exist before. Humans have developed this peculiar trait of trying to find meaning in everything. We’ve somehow acquired the ability to equate different wavelengths of light, a purely scientific concept, to complex emotions and feelings.
Humans make art, but art is what makes us human.
