The Inner Monologue

Let’s settle this once and for all, because apparently, some of you still think a tastefully arranged throw pillow is art. Spoiler: It’s not. It’s just a cushion you’ve fetishized because it matches your vibe.

Art makes you feel. Ornamentation makes you look.

That’s it. That’s the tweet. But since we live in a world where people call minimalist shelving units “a statement,” let’s break it down.

Art: The Feels

Art exists to provoke, unsettle, delight, or destroy you. It’s communication—sometimes screaming, sometimes whispering, but always saying something. A painting isn’t just pigment on canvas; it’s a question, a wound, a middle finger, or a love letter. A chair isn’t just a place to park your ass if it makes you think about your ass in a whole new existential light.

If you stand in front of something and your brain goes, “Huh. I didn’t know I could feel that,” congratulations—you’ve found art.

Ornamentation: The Looks

Ornamentation is the polite cousin of art—presentable, pleasant, and utterly uninterested in your emotional baggage. It exists to enhance, not interrogate. A gilded frame? Ornamentation. A tasteful vase? Ornamentation. That Live, Laugh, Love sign you bought at HomeGoods? Oh honey, no.

Ornamentation is about harmony, balance, and making your surroundings aesthetically compliant. It’s nice. It’s pretty. It’s also about as deep as a puddle after five minutes of drizzle.

But What If It’s Both?

Ah, the classic “But what about the Sistine Chapel?!” argument. Fine. Yes, things can be both. A beautifully crafted chair can be art if it makes you weep over the tragedy of human ergonomics. A painting can be mere ornamentation if its only purpose is to tie the room together.

But at their core, they are different beasts. Art demands a reaction. Ornamentation requests an approval.

Why Does This Matter?

Because calling everything art is how we end up in a world where a banana duct-taped to a wall sells for $120,000. Because mistaking decoration for meaning is how we end up with soulless interiors and even more soulless conversations about them.

So next time you’re tempted to call your geometric wallpaper a profound artistic choice, ask yourself: Is this moving me, or just matching my rug?

The answer might hurt. But hey—that’s art.