An artwork is a real, physical object or set of objects created to convey meanings that can be seen, understood and appreciated by viewers. Artworks can be in any media, including paint, drawing, sculpture, printmaking, photography, architecture, film and ceramics. They may be abstract, representational or figurative. They can be a combination of any of these, or they may have no form at all. In any case, an artwork’s purpose is to stimulate the viewer’s imagination and encourage reflection.
Mood (positive, energetic; happy, cheerful; angry, violent; serene, peaceful)
Is the work uplifting or depressing? Do the colors help communicate that mood? Do the subject matter choices support or contradict that mood?
How is the artwork arranged and positioned (i.e. centered; left- or right-aligned; symmetrical; balanced)? Does the composition use visual devices to establish hierarchy, accentuate dominance or create rhythm? For example, are forms grouped or scattered; overlapping or clustered; repeated; echoed; fused at tangents; or framed within frames? Are the silhouette shapes of the external edges of objects clear? Vision research shows that one of the first tasks of perception is to sort out these shapes.
What is the overall tone of voice (deliberate; honest; autobiographical; direct; obvious; unflinching; blunt; ambiguous; uncertain; satirical; propagandistic)? What is the artist’s perspective or point of view expressed by this artwork?
Is the artwork an allegory or a parable? Do the images and figures in the work have symbolic meanings that are conveyed through their relationships or interactions with each other, or by their settings, scale and color? An allegory is a device that combines abstract ideas, concepts and emotions with images of the concrete world to communicate them.
Does the artwork evoke a specific historical, cultural, social or political situation or event? Was it created in response to a design brief, or commissioned for a particular purpose? Has it influenced subsequent artworks or the art world in any way?
Conventional definitions of art often assert that a thing is an artwork if and only if it has been conferred the status of such by experts, or if it can be distinguished from ordinary objects by a number of properties. These include aesthetic properties, formal properties, expressive properties and the ability to arouse emotions and generate reflection. These are all features that many people have come to associate with artworks, and so they are regarded as criteria for defining an artwork. However, these criteria do not provide substantive characterizations of what it is that makes some things artworks. In particular, they do not explain why the mere fact that experts say a certain thing is an artwork suffices to make it so (Danto, 1984).