看见您这么喜欢文字, 文化和思考，我写了一段 short essay，

算是一点 random thought related to art, 您看看有什么想法：


One day, a friend of mine called me an “artist”. Suddenly a mixed feeling was stirred up intensely. Me? Are you sure? Was it a compliment or sarcasm?  I was driven to look at the definition of “artist” more seriously and found from Wiki:” An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts, and/or demonstrating an art.”  Sure, of course I deserve to be called an artist by this definition since I’ve been creating way more than one piece of art and displaying them extensively on the Internet.  So everyone can be an artist if they are participating in the creation of art!

However when this term is translated into Chinese with “家” attached， it means something “big”, for instance艺术家，美术家，画家, which automatically reflects one’s profession or status. With this concept in mind, being called “artist” seems awkward for someone without going through rigorous training. On the other hand, someone who was officially labeled “artist” may not be automatically viewed as true artist by others.  So what is the confusion here?

What can you do about it?  There might be some choices: either stay with the term “artist” without the translation or just think of the generic aspect of“家” without adding superiority, fame, honor, profession, successfulness, expertise and all of the extra recognition on it.  This might reflect a cultural difference in art.

Anyway, what makes one valuable is based on what he contributes, who he is, and how he expresses himself, not on what people think he is.