Does Art Reflect it's own Spirit: Is the Artist's Spirit changed by becoming Art?

Artists’ inner feelings and emotions can be the voice of their spirit wanting to be heard. Feelings turn into powerful emotions that have their say and reflect the happenings in their life. Art becomes the tool for the spirit expressed using art.

Art may be presented to entertain or influence others; in those cases, it may draw more from the art’s goal than the artist’s feelings.

The totality of society and culture can be represented in art, becoming a form of collective expression.

The positioning of people, objects, and colors reflects the artists' personalities and spirits. When an artwork has a hidden or obvious meaning, you may feel the artist’s soul. The goal for the author would be for you to feel what they feel or think you should feel.
Joseph Heinrich Beuys, a German artist and art theorist who died in 1986, believed in the "extended definition of art" in which everybody was an artist.

He once said, "every sphere of human activity, even peeling a potato, can be a work of art as long as it is a conscious act,"

For some, art depends on its purpose. I can be a means to truth or knowledge, the acquisition of truth. Art has even been called the avenue to the highest knowledge available to humans and a kind of knowledge impossible to attain by any other means.

Why would different people perceive art differently? One answer has to do not with art creation but with the perception of what is created.

Perception is conditioned by many factors, including political, social, cultural, gender, racial, and even the life story of the viewer. For all an artist intends to present, the object for the viewer is the art, not the artist.

“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.”

Art will impact our life journey we experience along the path. The influences change as we change. The forms of art that appeal to us change. We may at some point find art painted on canvas profound and then find we are influenced more by nature surrounding us. Those are influences of choice, but what society deems art impacts us all as well.

Art is an Instrument of War

“What do you think an artist is? … they are political beings, constantly aware of the heartbreaking, passionate, or delightful things that happen in the world, shaping themselves entirely in their image.

“Painting is not done to decorate apartments. It is an instrument of war.”- Pablo Picasso.

Art is made to defend something or fight against something. It isn't art if it doesn’t do one of these two things.