When we study any area of our culture (for example, history texts, or poetry), it entails considering many different interpretations. Art is no different. I have heard people say that they find art extremely challenging, or very high brow, that they are never sure what to look for, or what it means. For example, they can ‘like’ a painting, even ‘love’ it, but they find it difficult to explain why, and seem to strive to find what the artist ‘meant’ by it. Perhaps part of the problem is that no universal answer to the question, ‘What is art?’ has been agreed. We have all heard, perhaps even said ourselves, ‘That is not art’ or even, ‘I could do that’. Yet that very same piece commented on is displayed in front of us in an art exhibition. This debate shows no sign of abating, but does it mean if we cannot reach a consensus of opinion on what art is that we cannot in turn look at art with any confidence in our own opinion? I think not … the question whether it is art or not itself is in fact an opinion, and is borne from emotion conjured up in the viewer. Perhaps our own answer would be right, perhaps wrong, but essentially it is not important which.

The first advice for anyone is not to be afraid of your own opinion. It is valid, whether it is developed over a period of time and study, or whether it is your first ‘gut feeling’ when you look at a piece. We can look at a painting, indeed any form of art, and see everything the artist intended us to see, and from that we can form an opinion. We can perhaps develop that opinion by looking at the context, such as the artists background, their history, their nationality, their upbringing, their beliefs … all this and more can inform our opinion, perhaps in the process changing it. Moreover, we can gain much from learning a little more on ‘how’ to look at art.

In this series of articles I intend to predominantly use paintings as an example, for no other reason than I am a painter, but I would hope these ideas could be adapted to any form of art, and indeed hope to demonstrate this at least to some extent. I hope to be able to give some basic ideas to reinforce the ability to consider a painting and underline anyone’s confidence in looking at work and forming opinion. If you know all I say, then that’s fine, perhaps then it will enable you to more easily identify other areas of your art appreciation skills that you can develop.

All of us at some point have been confronted by a piece and thought, ‘where do I start’? Well, over this and the next few issues of the Zine, I hope to give some useful tips to tackle that question, considering amongst other things, effects, techniques, meaning and context of any piece of work.

So let’s get started! The next time you look at a painting, consider these three simple steps…

1. As a way in, the first thing to do is simply to look at the painting, then immediately consider its effect on you. What are your first impressions? What does it make you feel? What words enter your thoughts?

2. Then look again - what is the first thing to catch your eye? Then, where does your eye travel next? And after that? Where does your eye end up resting? Does your sight leave the painting altogether?

3. Then, look again, and see if there is anything that did not catch your eye before. Or, perhaps you keep going back to a particular part of the painting? Then again, perhaps there are parts you think are unimportant in the painting?

When doing this, try to pull your thoughts away from trying to find ‘the meaning’. It is not important at this stage if what you feel or see bears any relation to the artist’s intended meaning. We will come on to this later, and pull this and other methods together to establish a strong basis for anyone to consider any artwork.

Right, I am going to stop at that point! In the next Zine I will develop further the idea of the effect a painting has on the viewer, and start to link this in with other considerations, such as techniques the artist uses.

Have a wonderful festive time and a merry new year.

Martin