Painting — Hive

The definition of painting is also a matter of form. Is a painting realistic or abstract? Does it use organic or geometric forms? Is the subject a landscape or a person, and does it fall in a particular genre, like surrealism? Was the paint applied using a brush or sponge, or was it splattered and tossed in artistic action? These are questions that can help you understand the form of a painting. So what is it that unites the field of painting?

The defining aspects that unite all works of art under the category of painting include the use of certain materials. This means that a painting is usually defined as consisting of some kind of paint applied to some kind of surface, usually a flat, two-dimensional canvas. But that doesn't mean that the only works of art considered painting will be those made of oil paint on cloth canvas. In the broadest sense, graffiti is a kind of painting because it's made with paint - aerosol spray paint - applied to a flat surface, like a wall or slab of pavement.