Maria A. Aristidou

What can Art be and what Art can be 

It’s a very broad subject. What is Art?

It is a professional artist with a degree? or an amateur self-taught? 

is it expressive? is it smart? is it practical or just simple beautiful ? 

Or is it everything? 

This is not to cover the aesthetics of what makes a decent art work but to open up a discussion to the above questions. 

I find myself categorising what i am but why? 

Why do I have the need to spend hours and hours thinking of a silly little category while i could be ‘creating’. 

I paint, (oil, acrylic, water-colour, COFFEE)  I drew (pencil, marker, pastel, everything! you name it ) , I never stop learning, I craft, paper craft, I paint wall murals especially for children’s bedrooms,  I engrave, yesterday I wired a lamp and today I fixed and painted my furniture. And in the end I have the need to categorise myself and my work. 

Apparently in this day and age, If a person works with many things, themes and projects is not an acclaimed artist. At least that’s what I have been told. 

SO I have found this category: craftsmanship and handicraft. Works just fine in my case. 

But isn’t a craftsman an artist? 

This is a shuffle of questions and will loop on their own! 

I have always struggle with my identity. Not for myself. I know exactly who and what i am. Its my art who is/was/will be confused. 

Once I was working with glitter. Complicated patterns, really big glitter colourful patterns. I just love glitter. 

Then He and him commend and his funny, mocking voice: “You will always been known as the girl with glitter and no one will take you seriously, EVER”. 

I cried like a little girl for weeks, stopping everything I did. 

Years later I was in New York at an Andy Warhol exhibition and something caught my eye. Something flickering and slightly shinning. I turned to see Marilyn Monroe. Black and white. With DIAMOND DUST. For crying out loud it was diamond dust. it looked exactly like my glitter patterns. So I immediately called him and said: “well excuse me for not using diamond dust!!! “ 

The meaning of this open discussion is to expand our understanding and acceptance of what is art and what can be described as art. My coffee painting was also criticised as it not being an art form, but in the end i have discovered a new technic and style, I have the opportunity to be creative every single day and i can provide for my family. 

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