Sometimes it's helpful to define what something isn't. 

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Art is not for those who don’t understand it

Art is not for those who are skeptical of it 

Art is not associated with smart or dumb

Art is not the accumulation of money

Art is not the accumulation of status

Art is not anything negative 

Art is not not photography

Art is not a singular thing

Art is not right or wrong

Art is not a competition

Art is not for capitalism 

Art is not good or bad

Art is not disrespect

Art is not for money

Art is not zero-sum

Art is not for profit

Art is not for fame

Art is not shame

Art is not better 

Art is not easy

Art is not art

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I don't really know how fruitful this exercise is in the end. The reality is I will still have my cynical moments when I think art is pointless, as well as the inspired moments when I think art is all that is important in life. I will have my moments in which all I want to do is art, and I will have those in which I am tempted to throw my paint brushes in the trash. 

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I guess the point of this—to me, to the reader—is to realize that art is not one thing, art is not the same day to day, and art is not good or bad, right or wrong. 

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This doesn't seem awfully helpful nor groundbreaking, but rather to illustrate that even people who dedicate a majority of their free time to doing art—like me—don't really know what they're doing, why they're doing it, or what they think of it. In the end, everyone is an artist and everyone is a poet in my book. 

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