Some people would say art is any object created by a person. Others might say that a piece of art is an object found in gallery. Both definitions are problematic. Both definitions are acceptable, but both are highly problematic.
According to the first, anything created by a person could be considered a work of art. The person who designs car tires could be considered an artist according to this definition. Ads, graphic design, clothes, binders, shovels, etc, could all be considered high-art. Everyone and anyone could be considered an artist simply if they have ever created something.
The second definition refers to the location of the object in question. If the object is located in a gallery or a museum or a historic, therefore it must be art. So a statue in the Louvre in Paris, France would be considered high-art, even though the same statue in a men's club in downtown Toronto would not be considered anything remotely artistic.
The artist Marcel Duchamp and his readymades art objects pushed the definition of 'art' to an unknown degree when he introduced 'The Fountain' at the Society of Independent Artists in 1917. Perhaps his most famous work, Duchamp submitted a porcelain urinal and signed it under a pseudonym of "R. Mutt." A majority of the society's directors declared that this item was indecent and not art, and was refused from the show.
"The Fountain" caused quite a bit of controversy, as it questions the very nature of art. By removing the object from its original context (i.e. the bathroom) and placing it in a gallery, Duchamp makes the viewer re-evaluate your own definition of art. Duchamp signed the work and placed it on a pedestal in a gallery thereby meeting all the criteria for the definition of a piece of art.
Context means everything in our definition of art; the environment surrounding the work can provide the viewer with cues as to what the maker/artist/creator wants the work/object to be classified as. Also, sometimes the idea behind the work/object is the artwork in itself.
The definition of art is subjective; it is only art if and only if the individual viewer permits the work to be so.
Photo from:
http://locus.cwrl.utexas.edu/jbrown/files/Marcel%20Duchamp.jpg
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