Cards›Culture

Artist

Person who engages in any form of artistic creation or practice

An artist is a person who creates art or practices the arts. The most common usage in everyday speech and academic discourse refers to a practitioner of the visual arts, such as painting or drawing. The term is also widely used in the entertainment business to refer to actors, musicians, singers, dancers, and other performers. The French word artiste is sometimes used in English in this context, although this has become old-fashioned. The use of the term "artist" to describe writers is valid, but less common, and mostly restricted to contexts such as critics' reviews; "author" is generally used instead. While the use of the word 'artist' is common, there is no agreed upon definition of art—this makes the definition of who is and is not an artist indeterminate. Artists and philosophers still debate their interpretation of art's definition—on what does and does not count as art. I am only pointing out that my project, like Collingwood's, Osborne's, and others', is metaphysical in nature. I am interested in trying to find out what a work of art is and what it is essentially.