Who doesn't think the Mona Lisa is an exquisite work of art? Anyone? Anyone? Here's a question to think about: is the Mona Lisa truly an incredible work of art? or, is it an incredible work of art because someone at sometime said it was and we all kind of just agree?
What do I think? I happen to subscribe to the school of thought that holds that da Vinci was a genius but the Mona Lisa isn't my favorite of his works. Mine is actually "Lady with an Ermine;" I find it much more beautiful and colorful.
Here's another question: have you ever been to an art show or gallery and seen works that entrance you? Have you looked at other works that leave you scratching your head and wondering why they were included because, to your mind, any 5-year old could do that? Why do you suppose this is?
I have always held that Art is subjective: for any given piece of art [visual, print, sound] its value is held in the eyes of the beholder...mainly. I guess then, if enough people hold the same general opinion an art work could be given the moniker of outstanding. I found a great article at the blog Focus On the Artist, titled, "Buying a Painting: How Do I Know If an Artwork Is Good?" Article author Carolyn Henderson wrote:
"...it is difficult for the average person to know the difference between good art and bad.
And do not be misled — just as there are good movies and bad movies, and well written books and poorly plotted ones — there are standards by which one can call one painting excellent, and another one, not so excellent.
The problem is, the standards differ depending upon who is talking. The modern expressionist art movement dominated the conversation in the room for most of the 20th century, drowning out sensible questions like, 'That is a large red square with a yellow line going through the middle and a blue dot on either side, and it looks like something my eight-year-old could draw. So why is that painting ‘better’ art than the ocean picture with waves that not only look like waves, but seem as if they are splashing in my face?'...."
That's my point exactly! So why did van Gogh sell only one painting during his lifetime? Didn't people like his work? [Is it all a matter of marketing?] He painted some 900 works and me, I love his work. For me they "work." I found a segment that 60 Minutes Overtime did with reporter Morely Safer titled, "Take a walk through van Gogh's masterpieces." Take a look, it's really cool:
Back to my initial question: how do you know whan an art piece works?
I'm an artist and as part of my business I participate in shows and art festivals in my area. I love setting up my booth and engaging the public about all things art. When someone buys something I've done I notice that they do so because they are drawn to it for some reason. Here's some of them:
- one painting I sold was to a person who said the colors I used made her feel "happy"
- another painting I sold...the buyer told me she liked my sense of design
- yet another work sold because the buyer was entranced by the technique I used in my work
People see different things and are attracted to different things. There is no way you can teach someone to love Art. Whoa! I know what you're thinking. Yes, you can teach people to recognize techniques and color theories and you can describe [convince?] people that certain painters' works are worth $1 million because so-and-so gallery deemed them of value. However, and it's a big HOWEVER, I maintain that every person can look at an art piece and decide for themselves if it 'works.'
Here's an example. See the photo to the left? It's actually a painting done on a door. I wrote about it last March when on a short vacation to San Jose [CA]. I was walking from our hotel to the San Jose art museum and my attention was arrested, grabbed, by this painting. It worked for me. Why? It had 1) energy, 2) striking use of color, 3) attention-grabbing design elements and 4) it 'spoke' to me. I swear it did! Yes, the professional artist in me recognized the salient points of technique, color wheel use and sheer talent, but the 'regular me' thought it was just too cool. So, in a word, it "works."
When I was in college I took several art appreciation classes among the other art technique and literature classes. It was in my sophomore year that I studied the paintings of Georgia O'Keeffe. Immediately I knew this was an artist whose work spoke to my psyche - it's as if my artistic muse and hers spoke the very same language: color and form. In December 2009, I wrote a post about "Why
Georgia O'Keeffe's work inspires me." I said, in part, "...Ms. O'Keeffe work, most especially the flowers, show me the possible in how we could convey the incredible intensities of nature through 2-dimensionality: paint on support...." The photo at right is one I took of my own copy of a book ["Georgia O'Keeffee-One Hundred Flowers" edited by Nicholas Callaway] that the senior software engineer put under the tree for me one Christmas. [Love that man!]
I came across another video I found on Forbes.com about how to value art. I found it interesting and relevant [to a point]. It briefly talks about the difference between purchasing/selling art for collecting purposes and donating art. The person being interviewed talks about "wall power." Take a gander:
Here's my best input on the whole art collecting thing:
- Buy what you like; what draws you in and what speaks to you
- Don't be influenced by what the marketplace says or doesn't say - the 'marketplace' is not a person
- Realize that you can express your creative impluses by the art you choose to put in your home or office
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