Art For Non Artists

This article is designeds to help non-artists gain a better appreciation of art and an understanding of their personal tatstes,  particularly for making a buying decision.

Table of Contents

• The

What Is Good Art?

Unlike the laws of nature such as the law of gravity which is a measurable absolute principle, the judegement of goodness is subjective. Even when we embody our assesment of goodness in moral priciples or religious doctrine, it is still something that exists only in our minds as an idea. 

If you are a religious person, you may of course object since religious believe forms the absolute base for attributing moral values. The point being it is belief. Even if we were to assume such an absolute basis for judging goodness, religious doctrine confines the discussion to human behavior, not aesthetic tatase. In other words, reliogious doctrine really has no say in whether art is good or bad, apart prerhaps from statementws about content.

Says Who?

We are then left with the issue of who makes the assement of merit. Public institutions - museums and galleries - employ people called curators, whose job it is to stir the entrails of the art world to discern the good and the bad. Who are curators? These are people with an MFA or PhD degree in art history who know everything that has gone before in art. 

Where did they gain this knowledge? From professors in universities all of who have PhDs in art history. It's turtles all the way down (a favourite reference of mine). Or in other words, a very incestuous and closed community of valuation. They write copious articles filled with erudite observations about the minutae of whatever artists they are currently preying upon. They read each other's writing and compete in a ceasless quest to discover the new, the novel and the hotest emergent artist on the scene.

Another source of  artistic valuation is the art critic. They may or may not have credentials similar to a curator. They certainly profess an ability 

Actually, the determination of wherther a piece of art is good or bad is unimportant. What is important is what you, the buyer, think of a piece. Just as the artist who must live with what he has created, you have to live ith what you buy. If a dozen curators tell you you have a masterpiece and it makes you ill every time you look at it, you have done yourself a disservice. Conversely, if you have a piece the art world declares to be crap but it gives you pleasure or joy, igore the external noise and remain confident that your assement is absolutely right - for you. This is all that matters.

Self Observation

Awareness of how you personally respond to art is the most important thing you can cultivate.

Questions to Ask Yourself

• What feelings does the work evoke in me?
• What memories and associations are evoked? Are they desirable and pleasuable?
• What pieces do I like? What about them do I like? Are there consistent charateristics across the many pieces I like?
• What pieces do I strongly dislike? Why these are important is if we take a characteristic we dislike and turn irt around 180 degrees, we often discover a characteristic we like.
• What did I like last year, 5 years ago oand 10 years ago.? This can give us insight into how are tastes are changing and where they might be heading.

Viewing Displays and Exhibitions

We developed these ideas from attending the Toronto International Art Festival several times. This is an event where the attendee is probably exposed to 2000 individual pieces of art. This is literally a mind-nubing experience, a phenomenon interesting in its own right.

The Scan

When confronted with a large number of pieces of art - say more than 20 - one tends to become saturated when doing a close examination of each piece. A technique we use in such circumstances we call the Scan.

We quickly move through the entire exhibit giving each piece little more than a glance. A second or two is all that is needed. Every piece is afforded the same treatment. Some pieces will however grab at you. The trick here, is to avoid a detailed examination but make a note of the location and name of the piece and perhaps an assement of the degree of attraction on a scale of 3. Also note any fleeting impression. When you have finished the sccan of the exhibit, you will return to each piece noted for a closer examination.

The idea we are working with is that our minds are like icebergs. Consciousness is the visible surface of a vastly complex computing engine. It only takes a second for all the visual information in front of us to be taken in and processed. It takes much longer for a conscious formuation and analyisi of what we have seen to form. In the process, we lose any sense of our true initial response as it is replaced by a veneer of filtered ideas and judgements from others.

So we are looking for work that generates a significant personal response. We will worry about later, what that response is and what we want to do about it.

The rest of the work in the exhibition we ignore

The Deliberation Phase

In this stage, we return to each of those pieces that intially engaged us.

The Wrapup

In a larger exhibition, you should be mentally numb at this point. This stage is designed to answer questions such

• What are  highlights of the show?
• Is ther an overall trend in the art observed?
• What seems to be the major market characteristics?
• Are their general themes, styles or techniques that artists are using?
• How has rthe market and the art world evolved from last year?
• What is my overall impression of the show and the work?
• Is there a single piece or couple of pieces that stood out above the rest? Imagine that as 347th entrant you won a prize of being to take home one piece from the show for free. Which one would it be?