Ways of Seeing Response

The “Ways of Seeing” video reminded me of the preface that I have received at the beginning of every Art History class I have ever taken. It is always instilled that even as we view and discuss works of art, they are many degrees of separation from the original. Despite our best efforts, our images are projections of incorrect scale, produced from photographs of incorrect scale, of works that are a tiny selection from all of Art History, selected in order to illustrate that professor’s impression of a given Art Historical subtopic. All of this separation is then ultimately balanced on the tumultuous science of Art History, wherein conjecture and acute observation are the strongest tools in understanding the purpose of an object, since the artists are almost never available for comment themselves.

            Ultimately every image is a biased interpretation of the world or an idea that is then secondarily interpreted under the individual bias of any given person. Photographs especially started with an air of universal truth, just as many modes of art making have, but without the strict, algorithmic rules seen in math and science, meaning can only be created in the viewer. It can be prefaced, explained, and framed in a context, but just as the old adage suggests, beauty is ultimately in the eye of the beholder. The idea of this subjectivity in art is not terribly complex; the issue becomes making viewers aware of their entirely unique perspective on meaning, and letting them question themselves and others in order to free themselves from misconception and undue connotation.

            We are all just a blur in other people’s lives, and each of us have our own cone of vision through which other blurs pass. Increased time in contact with one another gives us a clearer picture of certain people but we never experience their reality. Art is a way to leave a vivid piece of personal experience, to see a thought or idea stand still even long after it’s maker’s death, but the act of viewing itself edits this thought or idea for it’s new home in our mind. Created images are relatively recent in the evolutionary development of consciousness, and as a result they are a terribly imperfect (albeit powerful) method of representation.