Ellen Dissanayake’s writing, “What is Art For?” addressed different sides to art throughout history.  Dissanayake describes her palaeoanthropsychobiological (what a word!) view as “that in order to include human history, human cultures, and human psychology, art must be viewed as an inherent universal (or biological) trait of the human species, as normal and natural as language, sex, sociability, aggression, or any of the other characteristics of human nature” (Dissanayake 1). This viewpoint shows that art is somewhat of a foundational trait that humans have. The importance of art and role it plays in humans is universal.

The postmodernist’s view of art is the view of art that makes the most sense to me. “Rather than assuming that art reflects a unique and privileged kind of knowledge, postmodernists point out that any “truth” or “reality” is only a point of view-a “representation”…Artists, just like everybody else, do not see the world in ant singularly privileged or objectively truthful way, but rather-like everybody- interpret it according to their individual and cultural sensibilities” (Dissnayake 5). I think this stance on art is relevant because it shows that art is personal. Whether art is created or analyzed by an individual, the art is interpreted according to the individual’s thoughts and culture. People view the same piece of art in different ways. If we created an image relating to our gender, we would all get different types of art depicting our gender. Women in America and women in a different country such as Iraq may have a different representation of how they view or create this image. The culture we live in can shape our thoughts and ideas and is reflected in the way art is interpreted.

Dissanayake discusses the process of how artists work. “What artists do, in their specialized and often driven way, is an exaggeration of what ordinary people also do, naturally and with enjoyment- transform the ordinary into the extra-ordinary” (Dissanayake 10). Artists can capture a moment in time and create something special. Whatever medium an artist may choose, they create a unique depiction of something that is important to them and to others. People usually connect with art that conveys something that is important to them. Artists enhance this connection for the viewer by creating something that is visually pleasing to people who see it.