How to Look at Art

“Have you ever entered a gallery or museum and felt an atmospheric shift? Those spaces have a visceral effect. An encounter with art is a call to presence. The objective is not to understand the work itself, but to note one’s own responses to it. Deep meaning can be found in the simple act of noticing, although sitting long enough with art to recognize our own thoughts and feelings is anything but easy.” - George Saunders*

Though it is made by humans and therefore contains qualities of a lived experience, art - and in particular, abstract art - can sometimes feel out of reach. A person encountering an artwork and not feeling a connection might think that the intended meaning of the work eludes them. Lack of understanding might be seen as a judgment on the ability of the viewer to interpret, or on the ability of the artist to communicate. 

While an artwork may contain some type of meaning (even if its maker says that, paradoxically, their work is meaningless), the words of the writer George Saunders offer a reframe to shift the gaze inward. The artist’s intention or purpose creates meaning, yet so does the viewer’s response - what is noticed, what is felt, what is thought. I like to think that the viewer’s awareness of their response to the work - through presence - is significant in itself, and adds to the work’s collective connotation.

*Saunders, George. “George Saunders on Agnes Martin, Julie Mehretu, and Henry Darger.” Ways of Seeing: Writings on Drawings from the Jack Shear Collection, The Drawing Center Drawing Papers Issue 146, Volume I, pp.52-60.