I love art and always find it fascinating. This medium of using canvas appeals mostly to our visual senses (I will explain why I say mostly in sometime) and hence can be appreciated just like one can appreciate good food (sense of taste) or good smell (sense of smell).
If you've ever been to an art gallery, many a times you might've thought what's so special about drawing a few random lines here and there and find it absolutely insane having seen the 6-digit price tag!
Well, you're not alone!
Many small things, if we're not looking deliberately, can be missed or overlooked. A well made piece of art has much to offer to its admirer.
Let me guide you through some of those traits from my rudimentary knowledge.
Look for the following things:
4 Major properties:
#1 Emotion
#2 Theme or idea conveyed
#3 Color-scheme
#4 Use and amalgamation of various shapes/lines/figures
A few other properties to look at:
#5 Use of various materials
#6 Sense of smell
#7 Artist/his background/his history
Let us go in a little deeper
Emotion: Great art like all other creative forms be it music, cinema, sculpture or food(even) should evoke a basic emotion of love, fear, curiosity, disillusion, anger, ignorance etc. When you're standing there and looking at the painting, ask yourself, what emotion does it evoke? Why it does so? Find those answers. That is where the beautiful and intriguing journey of art appreciation begins. One of the most important factors to appreciate any art as it comes from the gut feeling of the admirer.
Theme or idea conveyed: Next look at what is the art about. What idea is being conveyed? What do all those random looking figures/shapes mean? What is the artist trying to tell us? What is the story behind this painting? Does it find a relevance in my life? Once you realise this idea/theme, next analyse how well has it been conveyed. Are there other ways to convey this idea? Take help from your emotions. See where they guide you! It will be fun and challenging.
Color-scheme: Color scheme is pretty much part of the 'Emotion' depicted. According to color theory, certain colors depict/evoke certain emotions. Eg red evokes anger/panic/danger, green/white evokes tranquility, blue evokes sensibility, maturity, trust, purple evokes majesticness, royalty, yellow evokes happiness, joy etc etc Many artists like to defy these set rules. Its neither right nor wrong. Art is not supposed to follow any rules. One should see what colors are used. Are they used to depict/evoke certain emotions? How harmonically do they all merge together to create one stunning visual in totality? How deep are they? Are they used sparingly or in vast amounts?
Use and amalgamation of various shapes/lines/figures: Various shapes are also associated with the thought they show. Rigid lines may represent toughness, stiffness of the mind, bullheadedness, stubbornness etc whereas free flowing lines may represent free thinking or loss of control etc. Same is the case with shapes. Hard shapes or soft shapes, use of loops, long/short/big/small shapes.
Use of various materials: Most canvas artists use oil/acrylic paints. But many a times, artists like to experiment with various materials and these materials are only limited by imagination. They can be anything from the simple paper to the more complex food items or flowers or glass or metals or anything in between. Whatever gets your story told! This also includes the fabric on which it is painted. One should look at what fabric is used? Its roughness, dryness or shine. Likewise with other materials. Many a times, looking carefully at each miniscule small particle while looking closely gives you great joy, a sense of curiosity and happiness. Looking at those brush strokes, their direction, amount of color used with every stroke, length of those strokes make the viewing very pleasurable and interesting. When looking closely, you will be able to see the crests and troughs created by the material on a flat canvas and various shadows those small particles cast.
Sense of smell: This is as weird as it sounds. Rarely an artist may try to engage in involving your olfactory bulbs as well along with your visual senses. Not much can be said than to appreciate this effort subjectively. One can also feel the various paints and fabric and how their smell reach your nose.
Artist/his background/his history: An artist's history should hold little relevance in many regards. An artist's work should speak for himself/herself but sometimes this helps to complete the story which the artist is trying to tell. Has the artist been through a period of humiliation as a child? Was he from an impoverished background? If so, is he trying to show his state of mind at one of those down moments of his life? Does this make you move? Was this painting made at an important point in the history of this artist? Did he make this painting while he was suicidal? Or Was this made when he was going through a relationship breakup? is the artist gay or lesbian? How old is he? Did he see the days of World War II and The Great Depression and that is why you see a certain gloom in this work? All these things help to understand the right perspective and make the artwork that much more valuable to the admirer.
If you've ever been to an art gallery, many a times you might've thought what's so special about drawing a few random lines here and there and find it absolutely insane having seen the 6-digit price tag!
Well, you're not alone!
Many small things, if we're not looking deliberately, can be missed or overlooked. A well made piece of art has much to offer to its admirer.
Let me guide you through some of those traits from my rudimentary knowledge.
Look for the following things:
4 Major properties:
#1 Emotion
#2 Theme or idea conveyed
#3 Color-scheme
#4 Use and amalgamation of various shapes/lines/figures
A few other properties to look at:
#5 Use of various materials
#6 Sense of smell
#7 Artist/his background/his history
Let us go in a little deeper
Emotion: Great art like all other creative forms be it music, cinema, sculpture or food(even) should evoke a basic emotion of love, fear, curiosity, disillusion, anger, ignorance etc. When you're standing there and looking at the painting, ask yourself, what emotion does it evoke? Why it does so? Find those answers. That is where the beautiful and intriguing journey of art appreciation begins. One of the most important factors to appreciate any art as it comes from the gut feeling of the admirer.
Theme or idea conveyed: Next look at what is the art about. What idea is being conveyed? What do all those random looking figures/shapes mean? What is the artist trying to tell us? What is the story behind this painting? Does it find a relevance in my life? Once you realise this idea/theme, next analyse how well has it been conveyed. Are there other ways to convey this idea? Take help from your emotions. See where they guide you! It will be fun and challenging.
Color-scheme: Color scheme is pretty much part of the 'Emotion' depicted. According to color theory, certain colors depict/evoke certain emotions. Eg red evokes anger/panic/danger, green/white evokes tranquility, blue evokes sensibility, maturity, trust, purple evokes majesticness, royalty, yellow evokes happiness, joy etc etc Many artists like to defy these set rules. Its neither right nor wrong. Art is not supposed to follow any rules. One should see what colors are used. Are they used to depict/evoke certain emotions? How harmonically do they all merge together to create one stunning visual in totality? How deep are they? Are they used sparingly or in vast amounts?
Use and amalgamation of various shapes/lines/figures: Various shapes are also associated with the thought they show. Rigid lines may represent toughness, stiffness of the mind, bullheadedness, stubbornness etc whereas free flowing lines may represent free thinking or loss of control etc. Same is the case with shapes. Hard shapes or soft shapes, use of loops, long/short/big/small shapes.
Use of various materials: Most canvas artists use oil/acrylic paints. But many a times, artists like to experiment with various materials and these materials are only limited by imagination. They can be anything from the simple paper to the more complex food items or flowers or glass or metals or anything in between. Whatever gets your story told! This also includes the fabric on which it is painted. One should look at what fabric is used? Its roughness, dryness or shine. Likewise with other materials. Many a times, looking carefully at each miniscule small particle while looking closely gives you great joy, a sense of curiosity and happiness. Looking at those brush strokes, their direction, amount of color used with every stroke, length of those strokes make the viewing very pleasurable and interesting. When looking closely, you will be able to see the crests and troughs created by the material on a flat canvas and various shadows those small particles cast.
Sense of smell: This is as weird as it sounds. Rarely an artist may try to engage in involving your olfactory bulbs as well along with your visual senses. Not much can be said than to appreciate this effort subjectively. One can also feel the various paints and fabric and how their smell reach your nose.
Artist/his background/his history: An artist's history should hold little relevance in many regards. An artist's work should speak for himself/herself but sometimes this helps to complete the story which the artist is trying to tell. Has the artist been through a period of humiliation as a child? Was he from an impoverished background? If so, is he trying to show his state of mind at one of those down moments of his life? Does this make you move? Was this painting made at an important point in the history of this artist? Did he make this painting while he was suicidal? Or Was this made when he was going through a relationship breakup? is the artist gay or lesbian? How old is he? Did he see the days of World War II and The Great Depression and that is why you see a certain gloom in this work? All these things help to understand the right perspective and make the artwork that much more valuable to the admirer.
2 comments:
Very true!
Very true!
Post a Comment