How to Enjoy Art
Ben Street talked about his new book “How to Enjoy Art: A Guide for Everyone” which he has written for people who might find art galleries intimidating and who feel them need to bring knowledge they don’t have to art. I have done talks with Ben before and like his approach and this was interesting but I suspect, in the case of this audience, he was preaching to the converted.
He has drawn on his experience of working in galleries as an educator and academic to look at the barriers that the buildings and how the art is displayed can be off putting. He compared how we read books which takes time and how we can go round a gallery taking in multiple images quickly often creating mental overload.
He said that art comes wrapped in words in a museum and how important it is to look first and read after. He said that the words are often about things outside of the object such as who the artist is, when it was painted etc. He recommended thinking about your relationship with the object. I agree but I must admit I often find the words help me understand the place of the artwork. There are works I may not respond to but when I know the reason it was painted and when it gives me more context to appreciate it.
I liked his idea of thinking about the tone of voice of an artwork., Is it extrovert like a Pollock or more of a whisper. I will certainly start doing this.
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