ART is…Episode 3

YES, BUT WHAT MAKES IT ART…TODAY?

Episode 3. I suppose if you’ve made it this far you may be exasperated by now…still wondering why that thing, whatever it may be is art, in a gallery or in a museum or at auction? The question implies to me 3 things:

  1. You don’t especially like that thing
  2. You wonder if someone is trying to pull a fast one on you
  3. You wonder if there are any standards or rules to art

 

I’ll start with #3.  Are there any standards or rules?

The answer to that question is a qualified yes.  Art is made from materials, mostly.  It almost always deals in color, line, form, surface and shape arranged into compositions that engage us in various ways. The synergy of the parts creates a “Made You Look” moment.  That alone is a bit of a success!

 

WHY DID YOU LOOK?

Composition/line/color/shape- this is the overall way that the artist encourages your eye to travel through the piece. If you can’t figure out where to look, you may get confused or impatient. The artist may strive for a quiet balance or a startling aberration. Even figurative and photographic artists must do this.  You may believe you are looking at an utterly factual painting of a river valley.  But look closer. The artist has made many decisions and choices to help you see what they think is important.

Squint a bit and look at the piece.  What overall shapes do you see? Do they relate to one another? Do they seem to balance? What colors dominate?  Do they play well together?

Step close to the artwork and look closely.  What do you see? Don’t try to find the “story” right now.  Just look at how the work is made. What do the marks look like individually as well as together? Is there obvious skill?  Does it look messy? Do you think the materials are important?

Now, walk across the room from the artwork.  Turn around and look.  What is the first thing you see?  Is it the most important thing?  How does the artwork look different than when you were up close?

Is there a story in this piece of artwork? There isn’t always an intended narrative, but you may create one for yourself. You can look up the history of the artist and their time period in history to understand. Or you may shake your head and wonder:

 

2. Is someone trying to pull a fast one on me?
My answer is, not usually. Certainly there is humor and irony and adolescent challenge in some art, and yes, some elitism. Only some.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I encourage you to re-consider the questions in #3 and consider that maybe it really is just “about color” or “about messiness” or “about line” or “about the pleasure of making” or “about nothing!”

Just because it is in a museum, or a gallery doesn’t mean it is

THE GREATEST ART OF ALL TIME!

Galleries and museums are not actually in the business of anointing artworks with significance.

There are several kinds of museums. All public institutions are fundamentally educational institutions who want to teach you about history, art history, culture(s) and challenge you to look and think about things in multiple ways. Some museums have permanent collections.  Some do not.

Increasingly there are private museums which feature the private collection of an individual.  Some private museums are educational, some are not.

And galleries?  They are retail businesses.  They want to sell art. And, yes, the big galleries do work with the museums and auction houses to develop the reputations of their artists…so everyone can make more money. But, I digress.  That is a whole other story!

It’s OK that you do not like THAT THING!

Really! I don’t like all art either.  But I really do like looking at it and trying to figure it out. Give it a chance.  Ask yourself some of the questions above.  The more you look and the more carefully you look you will discover that there is more to art that you thought. You will begin to understand better what you do and do not respond to.  In the end, all that matters is the experience you had with the art.

  • Does it delight you?
  • Do you find it beautiful?
  • Do you find it ugly?
  • Will it challenge you?
  • Can it make you wonder why?
  • Will it make you cringe?
  • Does it tell a story?
  • Can you tell a story with it?
  • Did it make you stop and pause?
  • Does it astound you?
  • Does it overwhelm you, in a good or bad way?

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