From The Creator To The Viewer
I am in the midst of putting finishing touches to my new series of oil paintings on paper. Now that I know that they are almost done, and I am out of the weeds of figuring them out, I feel my brain slowing down with the chaos of making, to having the space to think. The question swirling around in my brain in that space is this:
What does a piece of art mean for its creator, and what does it translate to when looked at by the viewer?
And, well, it’s a known fact that if you pose yourself a question, your brain will want to jump in with an answer. So, I have been thinking about the answer to my own question, and this is what this blog post is about.
When I thought about my own art making process, I realized I have made it a big and consistent enough part of my daily life that it has become a desire. A desire that stems from my surroundings, things I notice that strike me as beautiful or interesting. Shapes and lines around me tempt me to record them in my mind’s eye as inspiration that I want to filter in my subsequent art pieces, or just even in sketchbook pages. Even though the filtration process may remove any recognizable features from my original inspiration, I know it’s there. I know it played with my mind and affected my piece to be exactly what it ends up being. These desires and inspirations help me build a two-way street to my art making:
They give me ideas to use for art I may be making, and
They build the path for me wanting to make more art.
In wrapping up the thread for what does a piece of art that I, the creator, make mean to me this is what I realized:
It is the meeting place for my inner and outer world. It is where my existing thoughts and ideas rub shoulders with the physicality and spirituality of the world around me. And my need to express this distillation of the interaction in a visual way is what that painting is for me.
Then, the other part of this bigger question is:
What does a painting mean for the viewer, or the collector who decides to make it a part of their lives?
When someone looks at a painting or a sculpture for the first time, and they give it more than a passing glance, there is a transference of thoughts and emotions that forms a bond. The viewer sees it with their eyes, their thoughts and emotions, their inner world looking out to this piece of creation. With their eyes, their world, their desires, they may see the piece as entirely differently than what the creator was thinking of when making it. But that’s ok.
Because a piece of art is never one fixed commodity.:
It’s a shapeshifter.
It fits with anyone willing to engage with it.
It speaks the language of whoever holds a dialogue with it.
So this piece of art then becomes a conversation.
A conversation, mind you, not a debate, where everyone gets to express their views and take their thoughts forward based on what the person on the other side of the table is saying. There are no arguments, but curiosity, comfort in expressing, and unexpected surprises. With this piece of art as the conversation between its maker and its viewer, the people get to grow and learn from each other. We get to put this piece at the center and we get to see the world from each other’s perspective, but also express our own. And there is a beautiful (that may be up for discussion?) artifact that speaks loudly to some. These abstracts ideas that have transference through this physical piece is where the magic of art resides.
So maybe, when you see a piece of art that you feel stirs up any emotions in you, you may see this piece as a conversation that you are having with the artist. What is being said and what does the world look like from each of your perspectives? That moment of thoughtfulness through this art piece may become one of the bright or interesting spots in your day, and that is what art’s purpose is, is it not?
