Whats art?

The western art world has frequently uses stereotypes to define and label art. Artwork that is produced outside of the typical European and American styles is disregarded based on its exotic nature. Critics do not take into account the cultural voice that the art carries in its native context. One example in the text illustrates a European critic panning a Brazilian artist. He claimed the art was "incoherent" since it wasn't authentically Brazilian and therefore "it wasn't art"(Kocur and Leung 233). One challenges the notion that art must be defined to be valuable. Why can't art exist out of the desire to just create? Personally, Duchamp was a great artist because he strived to go beyond the limitations of critical opinions of how art is perceived.
Because of the lack of understanding in the traditional art world, "black and non European artists have had to acquiesce to promotion through the commodified signs of ethnicity, which renders them complicit to western desire" (Kocur and Leung 235). This label limits the voice of ethnic artists and reduces their expression as mere storytelling. Its degrading and diminishes the authentic expression of the piece to something trivial and unvalued by traditional standards.