Looking back at a few of my previous articles, I’ve decided to revisit one of my earlier statements and take myself to account. In the first few sentences of my first article I said, “Looking at art can be tricky, difficult even. But it doesn’t have to be this way.” Appreciating art doesn’t have to be tricky or difficult, it’s true, but I’ve been doing some thinking and I’ve realized that describing something as difficult shouldn’t be necessarily thought of a negative description. Tricky, misleading, bad, boring … check, check, and check, these are great words to use to describe poorly conceptualized and realized art. Difficult, on the other hand, can be used to describe a lot of the art that I cherish most.
So here it is: Difficult art is difficult precisely because it requires the audience to participate in some way. The art isn’t sitting back, waiting to be looked at. It’s looking at you, demanding your response, your judgement, your reaction. Don’t hold back. You’ve got to get into the ring and go more than a few rounds before you can hold your own. But the first step is getting into the ring.
Here are a few training tips:
1) You seem interested in art. Start going to galleries. Admission is free and they are everywhere. There isn’t a dress code or standard for behaviour, but if you’re worried about fitting in just wear black and you’ll be fine.
2) Do your best to think of artist statements and exhibition essays as, at best, a hint of where to begin. The work should come before the writing. Doing your own research can’t hurt, but I can’t stress how important the work itself should be. That’s the pudding, folks. The rest is just smell.
3) Be prepared to ask yourself, if moved, offended, or both, why the piece in question has the power to offend or move you, and why the artist would be interested in employing or capitalizing on that particular response.
4) Buy a piece of art, or three. Yes, I am an artist who needs money, and yes, you can start with one of my paintings if that suits you. It suits me. But aside from that, living with art is the best way to really learn an appreciation for it. Day to day life with an artwork will also separate the wheat from the chaff. It’ll separate the good from the bad. I mean, with in a year or two of keeping a bad piece of art around you’ll be well aware of just how little it has to give. A good piece of art will keep up with you as you change. We’ll talk about buying art in a later issue. For now I’ll just say while good art doesn’t have to cost a lot it does pay to carefully consider your options before purchasing something.
A lot of art these days is provocative and doesn’t exist other than to get a knee-jerk reaction. That’s not the kind of art that I’m defending today. A difficult painting may just be inscrutable, mysterious or just plain baffling and it’s up to you to ask why. Are you looking for comfort? Buy some slippers. If you want something from art, you’d better be willing to give to get.
Do you have any art related questions? The doctor is in. Just email me here
