What Makes Good Art?

I was pondering in the shower today on what makes good art. I came to the conclusion that one way of looking at good art is looking at the audience that is deciding whether it is good art or not.

I could identify four audiences that I tend to refer to when I am trying to determine what is "good" art. These are the public, art buyers, the art community, and the artist himself or herself. Let's look at each one individually.

• The Public - I am a firm believer in public art, and try to participate in many public art programs. I believe most people really do enjoy art, and many do not have the means to purchase art for themselves. I know that artists in different cultures are treated differently. In Europe, artists are treated a bit like celebrities. In the United States and Canada, I think they are though of as a bit eccentric, and not main stream. I remember when I was a kid I told my Dad I wanted to be an artist when I graduated high school, and he said that is nice, but what was I going to do for a living? I think this was the same thing his father had said to him.
  
  I draw a lot in coffee shops, and do a lot of outdoor sketching and I am always amazed at the percentage of people in the public who feel compelled to look at my work and discuss it with me. I see true appreciation of the art in their eyes, and I get many ego inflating compliments about my work. The public seems to react directly to a piece of art, either they like it or they don't. This is the kindest audience when it comes to deciding if art is "good" or not.
  
  
• The Buyer or Collector - The second audience for art is the buyer or collector. If someone is willing to pay for your art, then they have definitely given you a "good" grade. The art buyer as far as I can tell, usually buys art for themselves (to hang in their home) or as an investment (they believe in the artist, and think his or her work will increase in value over time). This audience is most easily reached by works of art that fit the current trend in designers colours, and florals and peaceful landscapes for the most part. Art that makes people comfortable and beautifies the home. Many art buyers are women, so things that interest them are often good subjects.
  
  Goodness for this audience is easy to calibrate. The more money you earn, the better your art is. The nice part about this audience is they help with the mundane, but necessary need of earning a living.
  
  
• The Art Community - The third audience is the art community. By this, I am referring to the critics and judges. This community has certain criteria it uses to determine what is "good" art. Art history, the masters, the critic's or judge's personal taste in art, are all criteria used with a multitude of other things like technique, composition, creativity, originality and many, many others. This is a very difficult audience to receive a good rating from. Remember, though, that this audience, like the others above, are strongly effected by their culture and era. For example, Van Gough was not accepted in the art community of his time, his work was not popular with the public, and he was not successful at selling his work during his lifetime, yet failing in all te above markets, he is recognized today as a great master. Sometimes the art community audience is slow to accept someone as good, and as times and tastes change, work previously not accepted as "good" becomes "good". Like everything in art, there is no hard and fast rules.
  
  
• The Artist - The final audience that determines whether art is "good" or not is the artist himself or herself. I believe this is the most important audience of all. Art is an interaction between the artist and the subject. What the artist believes is "good" will drive the development of his or her work, create the artist's personal style, and give cohesiveness to their lifetime of work.
  
  It is the artist himself or herself that strives for perfection (what the artist believes to be "good") in each work, and is always disappointed and resolving to do better in the next work.
  
  And who is better at determining whether the artist achieved his or her creative goal than the artist?

What is "good" art? I think it depends on who is the audience and what factors are effecting them, such as culture, and the world they exist in. I think for myself as an artist, the only measure of "good" I am comfortable with in judging my art is my satisfaction with the artwork I created and has it progressed from prior works in a way that I want to go in.

The image in this post was done on an artist's weekend getaway to Quadra Island near Vancouver Island. The drawing was done between rain showers and depicts Cape Mudge lighthouse, a working lighthouse near the resort.