Ayn Rand defined art as a selective recreation of reality based on an artist's metaphysical value judgements. Ayn Rand was a romantic realist. She believed in portraying man as an heroic being. She believed in portraying things as they could be or should be. For examples of art consistent with the Objectivist sense of life, go to Cordair Art .
Art serves no utilitarian purpose, but is created simply for the sake of contemplation.
Also, art is a requirement of human life because of the fact that humans think at the conceptual level. In other words, man needs his values and beliefs concretized in art because of the abstract nature of his means to knowledge.