Although van Gogh, Picasso, Kandinsky, all the greats are truly masters of the craft of painting, among many other talents, it is their personal style of expression which makes their pieces so riveting and truly timeless.

To this, add Warhol, whose merging of “commercial” art in a fine art setting (he was originally a fashion illustrator) transcended the commercial aspect, acting as a mirror to our American consumerist culture, and rightfully earning immortality for brilliant, inventive approaches.

Another “commercial” artist was Alphonse Mucha, whose beautiful illustrations were created to sell cigarette papers and the like. Look at them now, and they certainly would qualify as fine art in my opinion.

Crafts, folk art, macrame, etc… are only limited in their acceptance by the fine art world by virtue of the innovation of their creator.

Anyway, long story short, art is what you believe it is, not what someone tells you it should be, like I just did Wassily Kandinsky said: “Ask yourself, whether the work of art has carried you away to a world unknown to you before…if so, what more do you want?”