Art: A Way In

Last month we developed our recognition and interpretation of the techniques available to artists, while looking at a few example paintings to illustrate some of these. There is very much more we could look at in relation to techniques, and to a greater depth than these short articles can tackle.

For example, we looked a little at line and depth techniques, and we could go further by considering aspects of this such as the use of atmospheric perspective, overlying, diminishing scale, vertical placement, linear perspective, three dimensional modeling, directional and outline line. However, my aim is to keep this concise and introduce basic analytical methods for looking at artwork, a grounding that can be built on.

Of course, if you wish you can develop this further in more comprehensive courses and books, which can devote more space to go in depth much further. For our purposes here, we shall move towards considering context and meaning more closely.

The context of art when looked at on deeper levels, could take our interpretation in new directions. Or, it may serve to strengthen our understanding to date. But most likely it will fall somewhere in between these two.

To get a feel for the context of any artwork, we can start to look at the subject of the work, the background of the artist, their upbringing, their beliefs, other art of a similar vein to this work, other paintings of the artist themselves, work with similar medium. Basically, anything and everything which may play a part in the creation of the work in question, on some level.

In doing so, we should also consider our own context. Do we have preconceived ideas and ideals, whether artistic or otherwise, which could influence our reaction to it? How does our age, our gender, our ethnicity, our nationality, our interest, our knowledge, our experiences affect what we think of it, what emotion we feel? Do we feel different as to potential meaning of an artwork from the stated intentions of the artist? If so, why? All these considerations can lead you to alter your views. They can also work the opposite way, strengthening your initial feelings.

Let’s take an example of a work we have looked at previously. The painting is ‘Through a window’ by Shawn Marie Hardy (shown below).

“Through a Window”

Shawn Marie Hardy

Media: Acrylic on Gallery-Wrapped Canvas

Dimensions: 24 x 24"

Date of Work: 3/05

The following are excerpts from recent comments by Shawn Marie on this work. This is contextual information which you can use to develop your interpretation of the meaning of the painting. I will not expand on these further. Rather, consider these in light of what I have said above, things such as the other paintings of Shawn Marie, her personal background, paintings by Georgia O’Keefe, and suchlike. Then consider if you see the painting differently now in any way. In doing so, also revisit the painting again using the techniques we have developed before. Then bring in your own context, and consider how that may influence your thoughts.

Shawn Marie’s comments (edited) :

“I lived a fairly bohemian childhood with parents who were considered hippies.”

“I look to my dreams and desires as a source for subject matter.”

“I seem to subconsciously juxtapose peace and disharmony in my work.”

“In ‘Through a Window’ I worked spontaneously and without intention. I look back on this piece as a view of life and hope. The colorful, joyous ribbons represent how I perceived others were viewing me at the time, but it was a facade - a curtain hiding what truly lay underneath. I was searching for answers and struggling with some inner demons and the sharp object represents the breaking through this curtain to find peace within.”

“As far as influence, I am mainly a surrealist but seemingly evolved into it over the last few years. When I painted "Through a Window" I was just experimenting with acrylics. I previously used oil pastel and turpentine on paper, and sometimes watercolor.”

“ I am an avid fan of Georgia O'Keefe and I think her work used to be more of an influence than it is today. It is actually hard for me to look at that work now because I think I have developed a style I am comfortable with, whereas, I was still searching then.”

Hopefully you can see how we can start to pull context in and work our thoughts with it. Such analysis is circular, we redevelop continually until we come to our own understanding of the meaning. In doing so, we may work through effects, technique analysis, contexts, and meaning repetitively until we are happy with our take on the work.

Once more I think I have said enough for one article. The next one (1st June issue) will be the final one, and I will briefly revisit and summarise everything to date, give some pointers to how you can start to apply these methods to other types of art, and if there is space and time, give some short examples of aspects of what we have learned in action.

My thanks for reading,

Martin