-or- The Possibilities of Art

Looking at art can be tricky, difficult even. But it doesn’t have to be this way. The chasm that appears between contemporary art and the contemporary audience is merely an illusion. It’s a construction of a few people, people who should be shouted down at lectures, spit on at parties, and shunned in general society. These artists, critics, and criminals are found in any profession or endeavour, and thrive, much like cockroaches, wherever we don’t shine the bright light of intuition and reason.

What and what? But are these people really so bad? Ask yourself this: When was the last time you looked at a painting and it hit you, BOOM, right in the stomach? When has a photo changed your mind, 180, or a sculpture pushed your heart back in your chest for a beat or two?

I suppose that someone, probably one of the cockroaches from the first paragraph, could argue that the problem is that painting, photography, and sculpture are no longer relevant for now people. And they might also try to tell you that artists are just not making quality work anymore.

Heck, maybe they are right, and maybe all we’ve got left is television.

But I say no, these problems are not our problems. The main problem here is one of language. The words generally used to describe art have a startling tendency to distance the art from the audience; the terms and jargon end up creating a marshy fog between our art and us. For those of you who are intimidated by art because it has been put at arm’s length distance, I have some suggestions. First, trust your own experience and intuition when you look at a piece of artwork. You have a lifetime of experience to draw from. Second, look for the story behind the art. Why would the artist make the choices of materials, images, colours? Who made the piece and what was there motivation? Art presents possibilities that are just waiting to be explored, examined, and replied to.

This art is ours; oh yes it is. Are you going to let people fuck with that?