Art is aesthetic expression of Gestalt principles of vision. Art can only be appreciated as intended by its own people in its own time and place. Art can be a memory stimulant producing nostalgia. Art is snapshots of one's creative growth or lack thereof. Art records historic creative insight and inspiration.
Art provides directions for our passions or supports our common morality.
Art is a perscriptive description of our preferences for phyical beauty by such measurements as proportion, ratios, symmetry, gender and skin tones. Art brings into focus qualities we miss in ordinary daily life. Art is the graphic counterpart to literature. Art is one thing all men share. Art provides the clarification of a group's or generation's identity.