There is a good chance that you don’t care for most of the art you encounter. But wait, you’re cultured! You want to like art or at least appreciate it. Well here is an approach that might help.
Every work of art can be viewed in three distinct ways. The first way most of us encounter a work of art is ‘taste based’. You will either be attracted to a work or not on a purely superficial level. This is an important mode of art consumption, however fickle it may be. One’s taste may change day-to-day or hour to hour and is influenced by what they saw a minute ago and how hot their coffee was that morning. This fact should in no way downplay the importance of your visceral reaction to a thing in the world. Those who love art know they must first meet a work ‘face to face’ and absorb it on a sensory level before thinking too deeply about it. Consideration based solely on the physical or formal qualities should always be the primary basis for evaluating and experiencing an artwork.
The second approach to viewing is considering a work in the context of the artist’s entire body of work. While every artwork may tell a story, each of those stories is but a scene in the life of an artist’s work. When you consider all or a large portion of the work an artist has made, individual pieces take new shape. This mode of examination reveals the artist’s thought process and journey of discovery. Look for what the artist has chosen to develop and what they have left behind. This will allow you to discover the conceptual ideas that have guided the artist. Ideally, conceptual ideas will readily apparently. Although, at times research into the artist’s goals is helpful.
Lastly, but not of less importance is to view the work in its historical context. It has been said that ‘all art is of its time’. Art-making is always, on some level, a reaction to the world an artist exists within, even if that world pushes the artist to look inward. If this is true, one cannot truly understand a work of art without understanding the historical and cultural context of its creation. Artworks that we call ‘timeless’ tend to be works that later generations impose their own view of the world on and may have nothing to do with what the artist intended. Learn the outside influences behind an artwork and make connections with historical events or attitudes of the period. This can transform an unappealing work into something fascinating.
In the end, each of us will like what we like and artworks that transform and affect us on a deep personal level will always be few and far between. But by considering art in different ways we allow ourselves the opportunity to experience artwork to greater depths.