What Is Art?

     Okay, so I know that we discussed this in class (a while ago, but I found this old post and wanted to post it officially), but I kind of wanted to write about art as well. 
      I mean, what is art? If you think of an idea of a piece of art, but don't actually create, could that be considered art? Would you have the right to call it your own? A well known artist can create a drawing of a distorted person that looks like it was drawn by an elementary schooler, and yet they would be able to sell it for thousands of dollars. In high school, when you study art, you are given a bunch of guide lines and rules that you are required to follow. Yet they tell you to "Be creative" and to "Think outside of the box"...it's hypocritical. I know it's why I have personally always had a hard time with art. However for that class, you must follow all the guidelines in order to create a successful piece of art. Nevertheless, professional artists follow their own rules and create very successful pieces of art. A paradox, right? In a way, high school is forcing us to conform to someone's own individual opinion of what would be considered art, while telling us that that is still subjective. After high school, whatever a majority of the people like, they like. Then it sells. Also in high school, they tell you that abstract art is the hardest form of art. Abstract art consists of basically an idea  that is displayed with distorted objects and little to no details. Most of the art will look like something drawn by an elementary student. Yet most abstract art is revered by society as genius pieces of art work. This could be symbolic of how society is so conformed that anything similar to or that revokes memories of the past and of their own personal individualism, will be loved by others. What do you see in this abstract painting? Symbolically and literally?