I went to the Royal Academy today to an exhibition of drawings by Impressionist artists.
Part of the fun of going to an exhibition is people watching. Looking at what they’re wearing is interesting, as is hearing snippets of conversation: ‘I really think you should give me back my television now’ or ‘would you come to Milton Keynes for the weekend?’ However, mostly I really enjoy seeing people looking at the art. As I watched, an article came to mind that I had recently read in ‘Slightly Foxed’ (do look up this publication if you don’t know it.) It was about writing and talking about art. Everybody’s response to a picture is individual and personal and often critics presume to know what the artist intended. The article is called ‘Expressing the Inexpressible’ and it is written by Jonathan Law. It is commented that many artists have a strong aversion to saying anything direct about their work. The artist Ben Nicholson is quoted as saying that he disliked any kind of art writing because it ‘interrupts’ the pictures.
I recently watched an Arena programme where the artist Edward Hopper was being ‘interviewed.’ I put the last word in inverted commas because it was a total pretence of an interview. Hopper was totally monosyllabic, completely unhelpful to the journalist and made it blatantly clear that he did not wish to be there. He couldn’t see what there was to say about his art. He simply wanted people to see it and experience it. He felt anything written about it would cause the loss of the visual power.
I wonder if this applies to music as well. Should we just listen and experience rather than decode, analyse etc etc.
Still a lot to muse upon there.
By the way dear reader, she said she would go to Milton Keynes for the weekend but I’m not sure the television is about to be returned.