I love to work on art for a variety of reasons. Creating something, be it music, illustrations, paintings, dance routines, film, is always cathartic to a degree. What I enjoy most about art is that there is no right and wrong. I enjoyed algebra for the opposite reasons. In algebra, I knew exactly what to do. There was no discussion, and there was a degree of perfection you could reach that was the apex of your ability and everyone elses. Art, conversely, is never perfect. Often, discussion and debate surrounds it. Ethics, technicalities, composition, etc. It is one of the few practices in society where you do not have to worry about measuring yourself by anyone's standards but your own. If you choose to delve into photorealism, or abstract, or a specific style, you can of course measure what you are doing by a certain scale. But there are no real rules to just sitting down and creating something. Only the rules you make, or choose to adhere to.

Art has always been, for me, mostly important conceptually. It was artistic concepts that got me into drawing in the first place, ideas or images that I wanted to record out of my head. What inspired me to push on was my frustration with the level of technical skill I had as a child. The things I was seeing, the things I wanted to record, I couldn't. Not adequately. So I practiced, and I learned what I needed to, to do the art that I wanted.

Beyond being a personal venture, art has true importance (or none additionally at all) in the context of an audience. It is often nigh impossible to know what people as a whole will like, dislike, find incendiary or find boring.

The reasons that people enjoy and/or connect with something as entertainment are never finite and measurable. Even high-powered execs in the entertainment industry often make the wrong predictions about what will sell and what won't. The public is unpredictable. They often conform, rebel, or protest in completely erratic ways. And, they are each individual people with contesting opinions. Chances are, if one person hates what you've done, someone else will like it. Cultural issues are often hugely important as well. Society's moral compass has changed drastically (at least here in America). Artistic freedom has never been easier or more unrestrained.

In conclusion, I contest that art is most important personally, to the artist. The audience is secondary and fickle. You have to create for yourself. Otherwise, you might as well be working in a cubicle.