Hi, I'm erogenouswarzone. I frequently post in-depth analyses of artworks in this community.
For some time I have wanted to start a meta-series offering guidance on enjoying art, and since I have two huge posts in the making, I figured this would be a good time to start.
These posts I'm working on will contain a lot of information about the art and history and the artist and anything else I find interesting during my research.
erogenouswarzone
The first thing that seems appropriate would be to introduce myself and explain my relationship to art.
First, I have no formal training in art. One day - a few weeks ago - I was surfing Lemmy.ml and a post (https://lemmy.ml/post/3149999) from this community showed up and I loved it. Everything I know about art, I have learned since then.
The more I started engaging with the community the more curious I became about the historic periods and artists and learning everything I could about pieces I love. I work as a software engineer for a county in the continental United States, and write these posts while I wait for JBoss to refresh. (Btw, if you have any advice on how to make this process less painful, please pm me!)
Anyway, I requested to be made co-mod of this community and was granted that privilege by craftyindividual. Thanks again to him. I work hard to make sure there are no ads or low-quality posts so that your enjoyment is at its apex. I realize this post may be outside the guidelines, but I'm hoping its still relevant and enjoyed.
The Point
The point is I make posts and comments containing a lot of information about the paintings. But this information should not be taken in lightly.
Contextualism vs Isolationism
There is a spectrum of interpretation of art. On one side the viewer knows everything about the painting. On the other, the viewer knows nothing other than what they see - not the year or artist or anything.
Context |-------------------------------*--------| Isolation
Unless you've studied art history, you typically approach paintings close to the star above. Meaning, you know little to nothing about the painting other than what you see (and the author and year because that's typically included).
Some people, called Contextualists, will say you can only interpret a painting if you know as much as possible about the painting. Others, called Isolationists, say the opposite - art is created for the viewer, so nothing else matters other than what the viewer interprets with whatever knowledge the show up with.
Personally, I am a fervent believer in the latter because once you gain knowledge you can't lose it. And that knowledge will affect your interpretation of the work. So that is the point of this post: while I love doing the research and writing the essays, you should only learn more about art when you're ready. And then, if you're curious or want to check your hypotheses, great, go ahead and look. But your interpretation is all that matters in the end - not the artist's meaning, the political climate at the time or anything else.
And you should strive to protect it: your interpretations are not wrong no matter what you learn or what the artist says or even what I say. It is my hope that the information I provide is simply an amplification of your own enjoyment.