How to Understand Modern Art
I walk a mile to work each day, and no this isn’t like one of those stories that your parents or grandparents tell you about they had a walk a mile up hill in the snow to get to school, when they really lived next door to the school, I really do walk a mile to work, and it does happen to be uphill. Well I guess technically it’s up hill one way and down hill the other…. learned that lesson yesterday when I rode my bike. That uphill is STEEP
As I walk, I walk through a few poorer sections of the city, and end in the downtown area that’s filled with restaurants and art galleries. What I’ve learned on this walk, is that on certain streets , I STAND OUT, I look super dressed up and out of place, and then I turn a corner, and start blend in with the crowd. The thing is, the content ( what’s around me), changes the story that people tell, or assume about me. On one street I attract attention, because I look so different, on another, I blend in, and become just another person.
Just in case you don’t believe me, right around Halloween I was walking down the street, a young girl, around 5 years old, leaped out of her mom’s van, pointing in my direction, exclaiming, ” look mom, look!” I was sure that someone in a fabulous custom must be walking behind me, however, as I neared the girl, I realized that her pointed finger and excitement was directed towards me.
I’m sure that the people that I walk by each day make guesses as to where I’m going and why I dress the way that I dress. They form thoughts and opinions about me, based on what they know. ( which isn’t much) What they’re missing is the context.
The context of my story, is the part that starts to explain why I get dressed up and walk for a mile. Every work of art also has a context, and it’s often something that we don’t know, unless to do some research. Sometimes once a work of art is placed into the correct context, it makes sense.
As you look at the painting above, Sea, by Cy Twombly, I”m guessing that you have a few questions. Like, why is that art? Why is he considered an important artist?
And you’re thinking that you can recreate that painting with a blue marker in about 5 minutes. I happen to love this piece, because I’m a sucker for abstract art. I love the marks, the color , the energy. There’s something playful about it.
Twombly talks about his process of preparing to paint: “I sit for two or three hours and then in 15 minutes I can do a painting, but that’s part of it. You have to get ready and decide to jump up and do it; you build yourself up psychologically, and so painting has no time for brush. Brush is boring, you give it and all of a sudden it’s dry, you have to go. Before you cut the thought, you know?”
In response to being called childish: “My line is childlike but not childish. It is very difficult to fake… to get that quality you need to project yourself into the child’s line. It has to be felt.”
When you encounter a painting or drawing, that makes you think, ” I could do that, or I don’t get it,” Take a few minutes and ask some deeper questions, you just might learn something.
Today you’re going to learn how to look at and talk about formal qualities, content, and context of a work of art. Plus there are some fun exercises for you to try your hand at creating some art as well.