What Does A Painting Mean To You?
As you know from my previous post, I am enjoying Peter Clothier‘s book, Persist. There is so much packed in this tiny book, I wonder if I will ever stop contemplating it all. One of the subjects he brings up is how visual artist have it hard because this is one area where often the work which took hours, days, months or years to complete will be brushed away with a glance. If you look at other art forms, this is often not the case. Consider writing, by nature it takes time to read or with performance art you are often captivated by the story being told and asked to remain in your seat for a film, play or dance. When Clothier observed people in Museums, he found if they stopped they stopped to read the little bit of information by the work, then moved on. He thinks visual artist need more time given to the work they are sharing. I couldn’t agree with him more. Let’s look at some art:
First, let’s look at Shangri-La by Andrea Hupke de Palacio:
used with permission from Andrea Hupke de Palacio
Now take a long look at this painting or go to Andrea’s blog to view it larger. I mean really get into it. Think about the face…look at those eyes and stare deeply into them, consider the head covering, too. I don’t know about you, but I can get lost in there. The colors she has chosen to use are magnificent. I want to swim in the colors. Can you imagine what it took to just paint the colors in the right place? I can imagine she was lost in her own place while doing this. When I really look at this piece, I seem to be able to feel the grit of the dirt beneath my feet, the crunch of the dry grasses and a cold winter wind. It takes me back to a more simple time in my own mind. The countryside is cold and I am looking forward to a warm stew and roaring fire when I bring the goats back to the village for the night. I look forward to the taste of wine and tangy taste of goat cheese. I can feel all of these things and more. Goodness knows, I am not thinking this is what Andrea was thinking when she painted this piece, but it is where it transported me. She started me thinking with the painting and few, well chosen words. I was easily transported from there. The thing is you have to spend time to get yourself into the place of your imagination. The key, by the way, is the title of this piece – Shangri-La. Where does it take you?
Unfurling
You have seen this one from me before. I call it Unfurling. I would like for you to try again with something very different to really spend time with this piece. Allow it to consume you just like with Andrea’s painting. When I created it, I felt one thing, but now I sometimes feel something different when I see it. With paintings like this you often hear things like…”I like it” or “I could have done that” or “My five year old has done something very similar.” I have answers for all of those kinds of questions, but what I ultimately know is that the viewer is not allowing themselves the opportunity to feel this painting. I know there are a lot of feelings in there, because I put them there. Artists do that! What someone else feels is not what I probably felt as they have their own life experiences to draw on.
The point is that it seems viewers want to be told what a painting means to them, if they even take the time to stop and have a longer look. Is it fair to the artist who probably just wants to have an opportunity to bring a bit more humanity to the viewer? They probably just want to help them touch their own shangri-la, right? Clothier suggests an hour meditation sitting in front of a painting to try to get to know it and to understand what it means to you, the viewer. The artists is done with it, now it is the viewers turn to have it touch their heart, speak to them, to bring their own humanity to the surface. If you have ever had a painting move you to tears, you know just what I mean. This can happen with many paintings. Once you learn the technique, you can slip into the world of that particular painting with ease.
Please, share your experiences of really taking the time to look at paintings. I wonder if after the first time you might view them in a different way?
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There are 9 Comments to "What Does A Painting Mean To You?"
Andrea’s painting captures a person lost in reverie, her personal shangri-la. Her hair is wild, as if swept up in the reverie. Her clothing could be tribal dress and it’s also reminiscent of a playful harlequin’s costume. For me, this painting reflects my own feelings when I’m lost in a painting, ego-less, and one with the process. Your painting, Kim, creates for me the sense of being in an enchanted forest, with magical birds and sprites all around, helpers. Again, it could be a painting about the artist being lost in her process, with the muses there to help.
I will have to get this book you’re reading. What the author has to say about visual art being dismissed with a glance is so true. I’m at the gallery today and I just had a family walking through, dismissing everything. Even when they “liked” something, it felt dismissive. For starters, the mom looked at one of my paintings and said to her teenage daughter, “I LIKE this.” Her daughter: “You do?” The mother: “YES,” as she’s walking on to the next artist. “I DON’T like this. It makes me anxious.” Then the father is in front of yet another artist’s work: “This is really good. I don’t like the subject, but it’s really well painted.” And on an on and on…
In each case, these people were dismissing work by people who have been working for decades. One of the artists is a two-time Fulbright Scholar. I wonder what they would think if I walked into any of their workplaces and began proclaiming my opinion, loudly, on their legal briefs or whatever, when I don’t know the first thing about legal briefs. I don’t expect everyone to have an education in art, but what is it about some people that makes them feel perfectly free to voice opinions about art loudly, just because it’s hanging on a wall? Fortunately most people don’t do this. They feel a little reverence in the presence of art. And the art buyers NEVER do this. They walk around, feeling magnetized by certain pieces, then move in to disappear into the art, letting the vision of the artist touch their own. They are open to being touched.
San, I know you have and take the time to spend with paintings and other visual art. Your feelings about these truly come through and I am sure you can get these feelings rather quickly since you spend so much time around art – making and selling. I love how you feel about these pieces and for me, I love hearing what my painting brings to you. I think it is safe to say in cases like this it becomes all about the artist being lost in the process and dancing with their muses to make it complete with the universe! I love that thought…it makes me smile.
I think you would like this book a lot. There is so much in there about writing, working and honoring for me. Of course, I fully expect you to find other treasures I have yet to grasp from the book.
Argh! I admire you for your skills in the gallery. It would have been a challenge for me not to step in to try to slow them down. How do we reach out to people like that…to all people who just don’t grasp art in general. I clearly do not think everyone should love every piece of visual art they see, however I do think we need to have a respect for the human aspect behind it. In my highly emotional and untrained mind, I feel this is down right rudeness grounded in ignorance.
I truly comes down to respect, doesn’t it? This was disrespectful of your gallery and disrespectful of the artist your represent. Didn’t you just want to say to the woman, “Maybe the point of this painting is to help you come to terms with your anxiety.” …and think to yourself which might be caused by your rudeness. I am so glad this is not a common occurrence, but I am ever so sorry you have to deal with it at all.
Thank you so much, San, your insights and wonderful comments are always so very welcome here.
Firstly, I just love Andrea’s Shangri-La, and did from the moment I first saw it on her blog. I was first drawn to the clothes – those bright diamonds that remind me of another time, but then the face caught my attention. To me, she dressed in one mood – one of optimism and hope for the time ahead, but something has made her thoughtful and a little sad.
The whole is deceptively simple – yet so, so complex. This is true art and something I could live with and love for a long time.
Your Unfurling evokes moods in me Kim – calm, respectful, deep and instinctive – this is a beautiful piece. Very contemplative – I can tell myself that I see a robed woman and a mountain, or I can just lose myself in the clouds of colour.
I think we are all faced with people who don’t understand what they are looking at when they see our art – I could tell you some hair-raising stories of my own and those or friends who sell their art.
But if, for every 20 people who look, if there is one who really stops and looks and engages, then that’s what we’re there for, isn’t it?
I like the look of “Persist” – I often feel pushed by the commerce of art, rather than following the inner muse – perhaps I need to get myself a copy?
You always offer such food for thought, Kim!
Arohanui.
Hello Lesley, I had a feeling it would be the shapes and the colors which drew you in to Shangri-La! Andrea has quite a way with both of those things and a way of drawing out the personalities in the faces. I think they are really wonderful. You are right it is deceptively simple. She really knows how to use few lines to let the human mind/spirit fill in the other parts in order to gain an experience from the viewer. I am glad you could see this. There was a time when I did not see these things, but now I see how the so called “representational artist” can really use just a few strategic strokes to allow for a true human experience without fulling guiding the viewer to any particular place. I think it is brilliant.
True, I am more of a moody painter and depending on the viewer, the moods can be jubilant or dark. When I paint it is from a positive place most of the time. I never am able to paint myself out of a bad mood…I can’t even paint when I am in a bad mood.
You bring up a very good point about being able to get 20 people to really look, who have not done so before, as being a goal. Everyone isn’t going to do it, but even a few could begin something explosive. I like that idea!
I love this small book. I think it is the wisdom of his years coupled with his ability to express himself well which has made the difference. Of course, his admission of visual arts being so very different in the challenges of capturing attention did not hurt, either!
Thank You So Much, Lesley!
Arohanui my friend!
Hello Kim,
Thanks so much for using my work as a reference here, you put so very well words on what I have difficulties to explain but try to with my paintings:)
Your painting, I think I can see it differently any time I look at it. And I agree with Lesley and San, it’s calm and respectful, to me it’s so soothing, like a blue lake somewhere with nature around, at a place one can only reach by foot after hours of walk,lol!
It’s so interesting to read Lesley’s and San’s experiences too, with art-lookers…:) I guess we need to build up a sort of shell for our artist-minds in which to stay safe while we hear comments of people, who only “rush by” art as if it was a packaging of a product in a supermarket, you look at the package and the design, and you do not care what is in it. Or so…:) I would have a hard time too to be as placid as San is when hearing comments which express really no interest. But perhaps this would be a great lesson too, I don’t know.
Thanks so much for your thoughts and reflections, it’s so good to speak about these things. Have a wonderful day,
love
Andrea
Hello Andrea, I think you explain your art exceptionally well. The difference is just that I probably see it in a different way from you. If it is your English you are talking about, you are not correct. I have the pleasure of actually hearing your voice and holding conversations with you, hearing you move without a second of hesitation from one language to another…even combine several languages to get just what you mean out! No, my friend, your words are perfect!
You know, you are the one who taught me to see the abstract in every piece of art and because of that, I also see, even representational, paintings differently each time. It depends on my mood and my point of view at the moment as to how I might see them. I have to say, though, that I like this image you have of a place you have to walk a long time to get to. It works beautifully both figuratively as well as metaphorically. What a beautiful image to hold onto!
Isn’t it amazing to read about San and Lesley’s experiences of the general public when it comes to their art? I have had some of those, too, however they are not on as regular a basis as these two who meet the public on a regular basis. What a great analogy…they rush by the art as though it was a package at the supermarket and they don’t care what the contents might be!
As I said, I would have a hard time with not speaking up when people act so rudely, I have this mama gene in me where I want to protect those I care about and I am sure I would get my feathers ruffled. I do have a hard time imagining you in that state, though…you are always so calm!
Thank you Andra, thanks again for allowing me to use your painting and forgive me for the link blunder! I thought about it in the middle of the night! I always love hearing your thoughts here.
wow. great post and great dialogue. i truly love the shepherd, who i saw as a “he” but maybe he/she is androgenous. the colors and shapes in the outfit, the sublety. and the face. anderea’s faces are always so expressive and beautiful.
We, the non-artist public, must be taught how to look, how to see or even to look and see the art in the world. I just remember vaguely a story of Collette walking w/her Mom who would constantly point to this or that on the walk and say “Look!”
i also think that if a non-artist sits down to try to paint etc they then come to more understanding of the time and work and talent and experience that goes into being able to paint. Otherwise, it is very hard to understand.
If all your life, say, a maid, a wife, a mother, serves you meals, delicious with pies and homemade breads and flowers and cloth napkins, you may not appreciate all this effort and time and work that goes into the presntation until some day you are left alone to prepare your own meal and can barely scramble eggs. You have to go through the process of creating the artwork, meal or whatever, to understand that it does come completed with the wink of an eye.
some people have a hard time too projecting themselves into anothers point of view and sensitivites.
I am not excusing this, but I am sure there are places where I overlook how much work and effort went into things and be dismissive.
that said, I love your painting Kim. Yes, the title did give me a way to see it and I strongly see the unfurling energy coming from the purple swirl and spinning off into what almost looks like fingers or a handprint to me. The colors so subtle and close which I know is very hard to to. I am sure if I sat before it for an hour i would understand it differently and more richly.
Love is attention. Attention is love. That which we look at and pay attention to becomes transformed. becomes seen and feels loved in the seeing. true with a person too. if yuou feel rushed over and by and not seen you feel sad and lonely. when someone sits down and holds your hand and listens and looks in your eyes you feel loved and seen.
I put the title on my Amazon list. The title reminded me that my word for the year, really two words, were Passionate Persistence
thanks kim. great dialogue.
i meant “not completed” in the wink of an eye.
Suki, I would never, ever think of you as part of a non-artistic public. Anyone who can paint with words like you do is clearly an artist herself! Please embrace that, as I think it is very important and very true.
You are right about the non-artistic public needing to be taught how to enjoy art of any kind. In my mind, this is where many school systems fall short. Visual arts (and art in general) are the first to be cut when budgets are small. That is not to say I think the sciences need to be cut, but I think there are other places where the budget can be cut without compromising the intellectual development of the students….many systems are administratively heavy and there are sports programs which have huge budgets to name a few. Not everyone is meant to be an artist (as everyone is not meant to be a scientist), however learning respect for professions makes us all better humans, I believe.
You are so right that some have a more difficult time projecting themselves into the point of view of another. As you know, I think, I am married to a scientist who is very, very left brained. Here is the thing, since he has been introduced to the arts, he has become a more open and accepting person. He truly sees the world in a different way, so exposure and a bit of education goes a long way and would benefit all of us working in this field – in all the arts.
We all have places where we dismiss things. I would dismiss the cutting of the grass/weeds (although that scientist husband of mine is always on it) and my neighbors would scream about that! As Lesley said, though, if we could reach 20 people, that would make a difference. As a profession, the arts (I include writers in that – music gets attention as does film) take it on the chin, in general. As Clothier says it is not about the quality of the work, it is all about getting a break!
Thank you for your kind words about these paintings. I think giving them vague titles helps anyone who is willing to spend time with them. I am sure you understand that so much better than I.
I need to remember the truth you speak…Love is attention. Attention is love. Oh how true that is with all of life. Suki, you could write about this creative process, what it means, the challenges and how it all unfolds. Maybe it is your words which would touch the general public!
I think you would like this book, Suki! You would identify with Clothier on all levels. He began as a poet, has a lot of education, understands the artist as well as the lay person and has found his niche in blogging! It all sounds familiar, doesn’t it?
Thanks so much, Suki! You have fabulous insights and add so much to this blog!