Form in art
Even the art forms are commercialized, controlled, meant to be marketed and sold.
Dear artist, who were you before you chose your form? How have you edited yourself since then to fit your form? What did the painter call herself before she became a painter? What did the novelist call himself before he became a novelist? Whence in her did the urge to paint come? Whence in him did the urge to write come? How did they experience it at first? What outlets did it find before she picked up a brush, before he picked up a pen?
In order to be a form, it must have guidelines, rules, restrictions. I recently read about how Kerouac did not abide by the 5-7-5 syllable format for haikus. But what will Kerouac's poems be called then? What will the poems be called that are in a 4-7-6 syllable format? Or 6-7-8? Or 8-6-7? They are close to haikus but they are not. Who invented haikus in the first place? Why did they choose the 5-7-5 format? Perhaps because there is a natural rhythm to it, similar to how iambic meter sounds like a human heartbeat. buh-BUM-buh-BUM-buh-BUM. unstressed-STRESSED-unstressed-STRESSED-unstressed-STRESSED.
The creative romps of an artist are not cut and dry. They run amuck, break rules—like a child colors outside of the lines designed by the coloring book company, implying that children should draw within them.
But maybe there are lines for a reason. There is cause and effect. There are commonalities and universalities. As humans, there are things we can agree on. If we generally agree that some art pieces are better than others, this may be how forms get their beginnings. There are some forms we prefer to consume over others. Certain ways we like to see paintings painted, certain ways we like to hear stories told. And thus, art is commodified.
What is the purpose of art? For the consumer to enjoy it? For the artist to express themselves?
Form in art is for the consumer's enjoyment more than the artist's expression. Art forms develop over time according to consumer preferences. And then artists begin to believe that those forms are the only available options for their art. So their creations are really just fillings of a mold.
When an artist expresses herself without conscious preconception of the form which her expression will take, her art may take on a new form, a form different than the common forms, a form of her own.