Many people have attempted to give definitions of what art means, and means to them. I’ll try, too. What do visual arts and writing have in common? Where do they differ?

(1)   Visual arts.

Visual arts are aiming to portray reality by using shape, color, and motion.

These have a profound impact on our mind as they absorb our attention and produce avalanches of emotions.

Two-dimensional + pencil/charcoal = drawing & graphics

Two-dimensional + color= painting

Two-dimensional picture + silver oxide shading= photography

Three-dimensional =  sculpture

Four—dimensional (space + acceleration + time)= dance and/or theatre.

Visual arts and visual manifestations are partly independent from the observer.

(2)   Writing and poetry.

Writing and poetry are different.

In writing, there is no brush, no drawing pencil, no chisel, and only a bit of  writing pen, paper, computer mouse & digits.
Writing in general, and poetry in particular, uses the emotions of the reader.
A poem comes to life in the reader, as much as a virus becomes active in our body. Without a reader, a poem does not exist.

©2004 by Franz L Kessler