Characteristics of art
There follow some generally accepted characteristics of art; after this there is some lengtheir discussion of several of those facets perceived as universal or central to art:

encourages an intuitive understanding rather than a rational understanding, as, for example, with an article in a scientific journal;
was created with the intention of evoking such an understanding, or an attempt at such an understanding, in the audience;
was created with no other purpose or function other than to be itself (a radical, "pure art" definition);
elusive, in that the work may communicate on many different levels of appreciation; one may take the example of Gericault's Raft of the Medusa, in the case of which special knowledge concerning the shipwreck the painting depicts is not a prerequisite to appreciating it, but allows the appreciation of Gericault's political intentions in the piece;
in relation to the above, the piece may offer itself to many different interpretations, or, though it superficially depicts a mundane event or object, invites reflection upon elevated themes;
demonstrates a high level of ability or fluency within a medium; this characteristic might be considered a point of contention, since many modern artists (most notably, conceptual artists) do not themselves create the works they conceive, or do not even create the work in a conventional, demonstrative sense (one might think of Tracey Emin's controversial My Bed);
the conferral of a particularly appealing or aesthetically satisfying structure or form upon an original set of unrelated, passive constituents.
Defining art
There is often confusion about the meaning of the term art because multiple meanings of the word are used interchangeably. Individuals use the word art to identify painting, as well as singing.

Skill
Art can connote a sense of trained ability or mastery of a medium. An example of this is the contemporary young master Josignacio, creator of Plastic Paint Medium. It can also simply refer to the developed and efficient use of a language so as to convey meaning, with immediacy and or depth.

A common view is that the epithet 'art' (particular in its elevated sense) requires a certain level of creative expertise by the artist, whether this be a demonstration of technical ability (such as one might find in many works of the Rennaissance or in the plays of Shakespeare) or an originality in stylistic approach, or a combination of these two.

For example, a common contemporary criticism of some modern painting occurs along the lines of objecting to the apparent lack of skill or ability required in the production of the artistic object. One might take Tracey Emin's My Bed or Hirst's The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living, as examples of pieces wherein the artist exercised little to no traditionally recognised sets of skills. In the first case, Emin simply slept (and engaged in other activities) in her bed before placing the result in a gallery. She has, however, been insistent that there is a high degree of selection and arrangement in this work, which includes objects such as underwear and bottles around the bed. In the second case, Hirst came up with the conceptual design for the artwork. Although he physically participated in the creation of this piece, he has left the eventual creation of many other works to employed artisans. These approaches are exemplary of a particular kind of contemporary art: conceptual art.

The exclusionary view that art requires a certain skill level to produce is often described as a lay critique. It derives from the fact that in Western culture at least, art has traditionally been pushed in the direction of representationalism, the literal presentation of reality through literal images. On the other hand, criticism has often been brought to bear on modern artists for having no creative involvement whatsoever in their creations: one might take Hirst's work again as emblematic of this approach. It may be further noted that certain forms of art outside a Western tradition, such as Islamic geometric designs and calligraphy, Buddhist or Hindu mandalas and Celtic knotwork, though they are non-representational, still require a measure of skill and certain creative involvement in their execution.

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