it is whatever you make of it ~ (embiggenable) • iPhone
IN YESTERDAY'S ENTRY, WHEN WRITING ABOUT collecting vintage snapshots, I wrote:
....old snapshots can be described as "mysteries". One can never know anything about their making or the people depicted. Although, they are quite enjoyable to look at and wonder / ponder.
I have always felt that, relative to my eye and sensibilities, if a picture-any picture, not just a vintage snapshot-is, at first glance, enjoyable to look at*, I am inclined to spent some time and expend some effort to ponder it. And, when pondering a picture, I prefer to have my pondering un-infected by a statement from the picture maker who made it.
AN ASIDE I have no issue with artist statements unless they are little more than an obtuse / convoluted ramble of artspeak gibberish or narcissistic self-psychoanalytical navel gazing. However, my preference is to read them after I have viewed the pictures made by the artist. END OF AN ASIDE
In other words, I want my viewing and pondering to begin with a blank slate affected only by that which I bring to the viewing experience. Of course, that means that the results of my encounter with a picture will be predominately subjective / highly personal. However, that does not mean that the result(s) of my picture viewing experience can not be subsequently altered or expanded to accommodate the input from a well written artist statement or the option of another viewer. I do try to keep my eye and mind open to other points of view(ing).
All of the above written, when pondering a picture, I am never attempting to discern the meaning of that picture. Let me repeat, NEVER. That is because, iMo, art is best seen and felt.
When I experience a feeling instigated by the viewing of a picture (piece of art), that feeling almost always causes thoughts-connected directly to the picture-induced vibe I am experiencing-to come to my mind. HOWEVER (and this is important to my ultimate point), because I am a visual thinker, those thoughts which come to mind are in the form of pictures, not words. And, those mind-pictures are images drawn from my life experience memories. Memories of place / situation / people experiences which relate directly to the feeling(s) I am experiencing from the viewing of a picture (piece of art).
Since I am a visual thinker, I am more apt to seek out / experience the feeling(s) incited by a picture (piece of art) rather than some form of meaning associated with a picture (piece of art). Meaning construted with words, aka: the provenance of word thinkers.
So, I get it .... some picture / art viewers seek feelings while others seek meaning. For me, that seeking is determined by the difference (genetics at work) between visual thinkers and word thinkers ... although, that idea should not be understood to mean that one type of thinker or the other seek only feeling(s) or only meaning(s).
In conclusion, in an enlightened world (that would be a world filled with open minds), I would have to write, "vive la différence".
* "interesting to look at" might be a better phrase. One way or the other, it should be understood that what is enjoyable / interesting to one person is apt to not be so to another person.