High Society

I read an article that reflected upon the "self" in a museum and how one should act. Should we try to sound like we feel every brushstroke, that the colors speak the very message of the artists intent? Should we throw out names of old masters, comparing and contrasting the styles and techniques? Should we pretend to be the high level, well-dressed, stroking-chin art critics that roam the galleries, squinting at every piece, glaring at the slightest noise made and asking "but what does it MEAN?"

While the article takes about 8 billion pages for you to get to the answer, the simple response is NO. Being an artist myself I frequent the galleries, museums, and cafe's around the city and try to get the same out of the people I know. But it is really is a challenge to get anyone, even myself, to enjoy the time spent there because of the creation of the "High Society" that seems to follow art around. The truth is, as basic as it seems, is that it is only art. It's paint on a canvas. It doesn't deserve your reverence or awe, and it doesn't require a dead stare and a closed lip. To experience art fully, simply be yourself.

If you are pretending to be an art critic, you won't be looking at a piece through your own eye. You won't connect with the same aspects, you won't feel the same emotion. And if you respond based on your reaction while pretending to be someone else, it won't be true to you. If a piece makes you feel "well this is obviously a comment on the inhumanity of the government on the less fortunate"  then say that, but if you feel "this is a piece of shit." then that is just as valid. A reaction to art does not have to be Shakespearean level literature, it just has to be real.  

I'm sick of the way we have risen art to a monumental level and how it has alienated the general public to the point where they just avoid it. Art is not impressing an art critic. It's not a measure of how many connections you find in the colors used. It's not how cryptic I can write a title, review, or artist statement. Art is the creation of something that has a true meaning to someone. That meaning can be anything, and that person can be anyone and there are absolutely no limitations. We need to get art back to the point where the general public is involved with it, interacts with it, and learns from it. Until then, it really doesn't have the power to make the difference we all hope it will.