The eye of the beholder

I’d like to talk about art. Art in all it’s guises. I thought I’d start by listing the things that are considered to be art, like sculpture, painting, drawing, photography, music, poetry, writing, dance, and theatre, but I then realised that there are so many other things that could fall under this heading that I may not personally deem to be art, how could I hope to list everything? And that’s the point of this post. Just because I don’t view it in that way, does that mean it’s not art? Who am I to make that judgement? Who is anyone to make that judgement? Art in any form is a personal, subjective thing that for some is a visceral, emotional epiphany and for others is a bland waste of space/time/oxygen.

Take literature. Some find books to be a rich tapestry of ideas and for others the last thing they would wish to do is sit and read. Often those are people that last read a book when they were at school or college, a well-known piece of ‘literature’ thrust under their nose and the contents clinically dissected and mapped out according to a curriculum. That’s not fun if the theme doesn’t interest you and the prose is difficult to follow. For example, I loved studying Hamlet, found it spoke to me deeply, but I also know that many people around me hated it. The problem was that they were being told how to interpret it, being told how to tease meaning from the dialogue, being told how to appreciate it. 

Stories aren’t for analysing - and at their base level that’s what even Shakespeare’s plays are, stories - they’re for feeling. A good story will take you in and show you a world that will make you feel…something. It will show you a part of the human condition (or non-human, I don’t want to be genre-ist) that will stir an emotion, be it empathy, sorrow, horror or delight. Emotions are personal, and they are subjective. You can’t teach a person what to feel when they read something any more than you can juggle water (before you start, you’re not allowed to put it in a container or freeze it!). You can tell them what you felt when you read it, what the general consensus is, but their emotions and their interpretations are their own.

The same goes for any other art form. I confess that I have little time for opera. I don’t doubt that it is performed by some very gifted people who can make aficionados weep during certain performances. I wouldn’t want to deny anyone else the right to clasp at their breast in wonder at the majesty of the voices soaring with passion. Please balance your miniature binoculars on your nose while dressed in your finest, I have no objections. Still sounds like a bunch of cats fighting in an alley to me. 

Ok, how many of you smiled and how many gasped and frowned? Some may even be thinking of not reading any further, but if that’s the case you are really missing my point. My dislike of opera may be because I haven’t experienced it properly or haven’t found a piece that captures me, I freely admit that, but that does not make my opinion invalid, just my opinion. I don’t expect everybody (or anybody) to agree with me, but what makes any other opinion more valid than mine? I don’t believe in going with the consensus just because it’s the consensus, I believe in every single person being able to make up their own mind about what it is they like, what touches them emotionally, what tickles their soul.

Is a pile of bricks art? An unmade bed? Half a sheep? I would say no, but many experts would state that I am missing the underlying metaphor, the nuances and statements that the artist is trying to convey by portraying the mundane in such a way. Whatever. To me it’s still a pile of bricks, a messy bed and half a sheep, and a canny artist that knows that some people will infer greatness from nothing and pay through the nose for it. You like it? Fill your boots. I’ll be over here rolling something in glitter for you to check out later.

The desolation of the mundane, or half a cup of coffee?

I’m not saying that they are wrong, just that it doesn’t float my boat. On the contrary, nobody is wrong. We are all individuals and we all see the world through our own eyes - we should be allowed to interpret it in any way that we want to. We won’t always agree, but if we were all the same life would be pretty boring, wouldn’t it?

If somebody doesn’t like the same things as you, sees things in a different way or laughs at different jokes, don’t dismiss them as being uneducated, uncouth, uptight, or any of the other labels we use for each other, ask yourself what they might be seeing or hearing instead. Tell yourself that they aren’t wrong, they’re just their own version of right. It’s worth remembering also that that doesn’t just hold for art.

So, your turn. What else do you consider to be art, and why? Or what really gets under your skin when it’s referred to as art? Share your insight, whether it be on kitten-juggling or smoke-origami. No answer is wrong if you can articulate a reason!