Art is an abstract concept, which is complicated and simple. The art is complicated because lots of artistic work are hard to understand and meaningful. The art is simple because the art is from people’s daily lives, it can be a song, a talking or a movement.

From the reading material, What is art for?, Dissanayake shows us a comprehensive definition of “What is art for?” At first, he mentioned that “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.”(page 1) That means human nature has the ability to find and view and appreciate the art. Then he described his past living in other countries, which “made him realize that different as other people’s beliefs may be from one’s own, we are all still recognizably people-and so you wonder what is universal.”(page 2) Dissanayake’s method is biological or evolutionary, which is “looking at all humans as members of one species and then thinking of art as a kind of behavior that developed as they evolved, to help them survive.” (page 2) Then, he discussed the development of the western concept of art.  In western art history, the pattern of manifestation is beauty, poetry, and image making.  Then Dissanayake introduces the Modernism, which is “Art as Ideology.”  The the main pattern of manifestation is similar to the earlier western concept of art, such as beauty and taste. All this things are sensorial. As the tittle said, “Art as Ideology.” Then, Dissanayake introduces the Postmodernism period, which is “Art as Interpretation.” This concept means the Postmodernism artists focus on the description and decoration on these art works, such as poetry and the architecture. Finally, Dissanayake gives an answer of “What is art for?” The answer is “Art for life’s Sake.” It is really true because “art is a normal and necessary behavior of human beings that like talking, exercising, playing, working, socializing, learning, loving and nurturing.” Hence, art is from life, and art is for life’s sake too!