Although it may seem that simply reversing the first technique would do the trick, such an approach would give only partial results. Some basic principles indeed need to be turned on their heels but, undoing, or “undressing” a painting also involves procedures that were irrelevant to the completing process. In other words, this method is not an opposite equivalent, but a new and entirely different manner of using your imagination for interpreting art.

 We have talked about the use of digital assistance before, but in this case technology plays a particularly important role. Indeed, what other better way is there to manipulate a reproduction of a painting than by using a computer and an image processing software? A computer program allows to discolor hues, rotate the image, remove parts of it, zoom in and out of the picture. Moreover, you may draw lines and make notes an the image without worrying about corruption (provided you made a backup copy), a helpful feature to denote carious underlying connections.

Sometimes the only way to get at the core idea of a piece is by getting rid of the secondary details. For this purpose, a computer program may prove to be an indispensable tool. If you are weary of using external technological aides for an assignment because it is supposed to be entirely yours, don’t be. Using modern technology is a known technique to extract information from art, it is being commonly used by art historian and critics. Professionals use X-rays and infra-red rays, we will settle for a strong PC.

Get to The Point

Usually you see it right away. It is that place on a painting that had your eyes fixed on it for longer than usual. Admittedly, for every interpreter that place would be different — but that’s the whole point of interpretation. You have to go with your gut and trust your intuition: use the software to get rid of the rest of the image, magnify that part and study it carefully.

• Faces: In human scenes and mass portraits it can be a single face, expression, a facial characteristic (mustache, faint smile, sneer, wrinkles). You have the ability to make an enlarged portrait out of any head on any painting; the artists themselves often resorted to this technique, including self-portraits in mass group scenes. Studying faces up close give you the psychological material to make supposition on the state of mind of that person — a step towards interpretation of the entire piece.

• Hands: These limbs are possibly the most expressive body parts after the faces; they are also follow in difficulty of execution. There are many signs hands may express (folded as in a prayer, political affiliation, secret society), look for them. Usually the hands comprise clusters of lines, so this is a good place to learn about the artist’s draftsmanship skills. Hands mean gestures and bodily movement on a local scale, they can teach you a lot about their owner. Try to study the hands before the heads — this will give you a more objective outlook on the depicted individual’s psyche.

• Still Life: A bowl of fruit is a bonanza of miniature still life paintings. Isolate each fruit, see how ripe and how seductive it is. Look for information about harvest times and find out whether the painting makes chronological sense. This data will back up your hypotheses regarding composition and color.

• Landscape: Look for the farthest, less expressed parts and try to realize how the artist uses and manipulates color; then compare to the foreground. Simply give the painting a look without some of its components, try to treat each area as an independent landscape. Depending on how natural these areas would appear, you will be able to make some conclusions about the artist’s compositional approach in particular and understanding of nature in general.

Look for Symbols

We have seen that undoing the painting means making countless mini-paintings from each isolated area, either the included or excluded one. These areas suddenly receive unprecedented attention; by focusing on them you discover secret links within the work and generate your own ideas about them. But even more importantly is the discovery of symbols. Because during the process of “undressing,” your attitude to a painted locus changes, you start to attribute symbolical significance to even the smallest and seemingly unimportant details. Indeed, many of these attributions would eventually turn out to be irrelevant but, some will give you penetrating insight about the painting as a whole.

Stay Tuned for the next part!

Arrive Somewhere

Let’s continue with this basic premise: by using your imagination when doing art interpretation, your aim is to arrive somewhere. This place may be a new idea about the work of art, or a known idea, but coming from a different sphere of life and shedding light on the image from a fresh perspective. This place may be as complex as a system or a theory or as simple as a personal life story or event. Either way, the premise of this chapter (and, in fact, of all the other chapters as well) is to get from point A — the idea of the painting — to point B — your interpretation of it. Both the road towards that goal and the actual grasp of it when already there can be rewarding experiences.

But the most powerful feature of the finish line is also its problem: it, after all, is still an imaginary construct. This leads to the inevitable conclusion that you, the interpreter, is the only person in the world able to imagine your ideas in your unique and original way. This self-evident truth often gets forgotten and marginalized, possibly because of the responsibility it brings along. No one will ever be able to tell you what your finish line looks like — this is something you could and should be to telling everyone. What this chapter offers is some methods — some training — as to how to try and get a glimpse of it, what general steps to take, and in what direction.

Complete the Painting in your Mind

This technique presupposes that the image in front of you is either incomplete, or only a starting point for following (imaginary) events that would occur “later” in an imagined pictorial narrative. Creating that narrative — completing the painting in your mind — is your task.

• Let’s examine several examples. First, imagine that the painting you see is a part of a film. The image before your eyes is the only frame at your disposal, but it may give many useful and interesting details. If there is a scene involving a group of people interacting, try to visualize what they would do next. Look at each actor, see what he or she is doing, and guess what would be the most common and expected next action. Then, try to identify how the group dynamics, as a whole, would evolve. That way you get a more vivid, objective picture of the actual depicted event: the next frames allow to make a comparison and sharpen the mental focus of the existing frame. You may arrive at some surprising insights, which would already be your interpretation.

• If there are people or objects that move in a particular direction, imagining where they would end up may reveal important details about the rhythm of the work. If you see an executioner with a sword raised right above the victim’s neck, it is possible to assume with a considerable degree of certainty what would happen in the next few seconds — and how would the crowd below the scaffold respond. Try figure out from the executioner’s posture whether he intends to go through with his job, or is he struggling with himself. Follow the people’s expressions, see if they if they are terrified or vindictive. With this data available, you will be able to probe into the political climate, and interpret the painting from an entirely new perspective.

• In landscape painting it could be more appropriate to speak in broader time sweeps; in months, or even seasons. Is there anything that gives away the approach of the next time of year? If it’s the summer, is there some growth with reds and yellows, denoting the slow onset of autumn? Perhaps, the growth is so explicitly abundant as to imply dead-ripe stage (decadence) — overabundance which in turn signals a nearing decline. In a winter piece, a spot of blackened snow may hint at melting and the onset of spring. Weigh all this data against known natural elements and states and see to which of them (according to your understanding) the material you gathered gravitates. Congratulations, you have just made an interpretation.

No Limits

The frame limits the painted area, but not your imagination. Try to visualize what happens beyond the edges, as if the painted surface continues there. Often artists crop their subjects to achieve certain effects; you would be able not only to benefit from the bigger picture (literally) but to tap into the effects on the cropped object more objectively.

Feel free to manipulate the painting in your mind: add more people, more objects, more colors. This method is particularly effective for interpreting still life. Does the composition look too vacant? Can you tip it over by adding just one more apple? What does it say about the stability of the composition? Finally, do these discoveries make you enjoy the painting more, less, or perhaps neither? Either way, your honest emotional response to your own interpretation will strongly support the latter.

Stay tuned for part 3!

You’ve got the Power!

We have touched imagination several times already while talking about brainstorming — but these were mostly motivational statements. Motivation is important, and you will find more of it here. However, the main purpose of this chapter is to suggest and discuss several practical methods which will give you the needed boost to launch your independent interpretation session. These methods prove that using your imagination is a skill that can be acquired and implemented by anyone willing to put in the time and thought. Considering you already have a bank of ideas to work with generated during brainstorming, you are off for a good start.

I would also like to encourage you to develop your own techniques. Nothing here is written in stone. I will try to reveal how I arrive at these methods, and hopefully outline the blueprint for the whole process — to offer the fishing rod along with some fish. However, when dealing with imagination, there are always the unknowables of inspiration, epiphanies, meditation induced revelations and such and sundry of mental and spiritual paths. Once again, I would suggest not to lock on a single known method and always leave room for… your imagination to work the wonders.

It’s Your Show

One of the crucial — for all of us — notions to internalize declares that when we interpret a work of art it doesn’t matter, at this stage, what we think the artist meant to express or convey. There is a widespread and generally accepted principle that once a work of art leaves the studio, once it is out there, it is yours to interpret any way you like. This is a heavy burden to take off of your mind; your imagination would soar like an air balloon after jettisoning some ballast.

Everything goes. Too many good ideas get stifled on the altar of “high” and “low” brow differentiations. There is no high and there is no low — there are only good arguments, based on good logic and supported by actual examples. Every work of art can be spun to suit your ideas, as long as you arrive at the conclusion via a series of sensible claims.

Some theories suppose that the artist’s personal biography is tightly linked with his artwork; psychoanalysis would be one such theory. However, there are also opposite views, which position works of art independently of the creator’s persona, making emphasis on the piece itself rather than on surrounding trivia. In my opinion, you do not have to adhere to neither of the trends: just be aware that they exist, and use either, when needed, for your purposes. Perhaps this is an intellectual opportunism, but then, art interpretation is an inherently opportunistic activity.

Even if the artist offers a ready made interpretation, his or her ideas cannot determine what the art piece means for you. The author does not own other people’s thoughts on his own creation and everyone has the right to interpret it. This leads, once again to incredible freedom.

The Possibilities

In many ways, imagination is all about the possibilities. The painting you see in front you was the arriving point for the artist, but it is one of departure for you. Paradoxically, our ignorance of the private process of painting puts us into an advantageous position. Even if you arrive at the same conclusions about the piece, you may choose a different route — and it is the route that matters, as it describes your own analytical interpretative process — something both an artist and an instructor would want and demand to see.

Therefore, “what could have been” and, subsequently, “what should have been” will be the focus of the next parts of this chapter. We will learn techniques to engage in a battle of minds and creative thought with the artist and her work, with the clear objective to win — to formulate concepts and theories and impose them on the work of art as if they were intended by the artist herself. We will learn to decipher and interpret art with the same tool the artist used to make it — imagination.

Stay tuned for Part 2!

And second, it is important not to allow the influx of seemingly “new” information confuse you and throw you off the track. Brainstorming is first and foremost an intuitive activity, and we all possess intuition. This guide stirs and shakes it, — it is about rediscovering and regaining it, in a way like an ancestral roots travel into your own mind. So if you are feeling a little bit overwhelmed after reading this chapter, just take a day’s break, and give it some time. It will all settle in and, hopefully, you will come out with a renewed sense of trust into your aesthetic intuition.

Different people possess different sides of their aesthetic intuition developed: some are more in tune with colors, others with lines and yet others with shapes and space. To those who are stronger in one particular kind of intuitive perception, points mentioned here that touch that particular kind would seem outrageously trivial but, to others they may actually reveal something. Once again, either kind is learnable. My personal advantage is that after having written more than 150 art reviews, I have trained myself to be in tune with all of the elements of art. You can do the same.

But let’s move on to the details. This preface is especially relevant to shapes, forms and space because these elements of art are usually tightly linked to the context of the painting you are working on. It is more difficult to outline bundles of concepts and traits pertaining to either element, and intuition takes a step forward.

Shapes

There are several things to notice about shapes, the two dimensional geometrical figures that appear on the painted surface.

• Evaluate the size of the shapes. This may seem problematic, because size is relative. But there are three scales that you may use for that purpose.

 

• First is the relationship between shapes withing the painted realm: how do they compare in terms of size? If you see outstandingly large or small shapes — even if the changes are governed by perspective and distance — they are worth mentioning as a notable feature.

 

• Second is the relation of the shapes to the frame’s size. How big is the shape in regard to the frame, does the frame crop the shape/s or lets it float freely?

 

• Use your general sense of proportion. If shapes jump out from the canvas as particularly big, small, or irregular, you should write down your impressions for further reference.

• Consider the shape of the frame, independently of what’s within its limits: do you think it suits the theme, overshadows it, brings out particular aspects of it?

• Round shapes, such as circles and ovals, often appear in important body parts (heads, eyes). They are also considered the “perfect” shapes.

• Note imaginary shapes, by using imaginary lines. There may be several centers of action, or of particular value (a spot of very bright color, a line’s angle) in the painting. What shape can you create by connecting the epicenters with imaginary lines?

• Count shapes, note what kind is the most prominent. This is all raw data that will help you to prove points about compositional and geometrical planning you think the artist might have been performing while working on the piece.

Forms

Made up by alternations of shadow and light, the illusions of three-dimensional forms in some ways pose visual magnets. We seek three-dimensionality because we see it everywhere around us. Many painters exploited that human trait, creating illusionist paintings. One particular story is still well known: a visitor once came to an artist’s studio; the artist asked the visitor to remove the veil from the parrot’s cage, which stood in the corner of the room. To the visitor’s amazement, neither the veil, nor the cage or the parrot were real. (But the room was. I think.)

• Strong light effects sculpt forms. Try to spot chiaroscuro and tenebrism. Does the artist strive to achieve powerful three-dimensional effects, something out of the ordinary?

• In human forms, look for deliberate distortions that may conceal important symbolical meanings, such as irony, compassion and so on.

Space

This is probably the most difficult element to discuss. In some ways, talking about space is like talking about everything, at once. However, because you arrive here after having written feverishly on the rest of the elements of art, you in a way have already covered “everything.”

• Assess perspective: is it tame, sharp or distorted, does it bring attention to itself?

• Space accommodates mood and atmosphere. Do you think it would be hospitable? Try to probe into your general sensations about mood. Try to see the “big picture.”

• How does open space interact with covered or closed space? (this will later link to light and color.)

• Is there a lot of open or closed space? Try to think as an actor inside the painting — would it make you feel claustrophobic, agoraphobic?

Finally, it is important to try to figure out the artist’s relationship with space. Some, even most experienced painters, struggle with space throughout their careers — and it shows. There is always some unresolved tension in their work. This is not necessarily a bad thing! Others are very confident with space handling, and this ability allows them to progress quickly, and experiment. This is where you, as the critic and the interpreter, need to get creative and go through your most tentative impressions — but you can use the brainstorming list for guidance. Good Luck!

Stay Tuned for the Next Chapter!

What You See Is… What You See

Before you address your particular topic (if you are a student writing a paper or an artist with the aim to critique or interpret a specific part of your work), it is always helpful to brainstorm on the general elements of art, so as to have a few crazy ideas prepared in advance — they will give you a stable credit of thought that is entirely yours, which in turn would boost your self-confidence and reliance. That way you would be approaching the assignment with a formed opinion; as a result your final interpretation would be opinionated.

Said credit is also useful in case you decide to jettison the assignment that you were given. Many instructors and artists secretly wish their opponents defied and confronted them — not the least because it brings out the best in both parties. But even if you stick to the given task, it is helpful to compare your ideas with what the instructor demands: how far are you from his or her vision, or how close. The credit endows you with control and gives you some power over the whole intellectual process.

So let’s get to the practical details. Here are instructions in a stream-like form, similar to what you will experience when brainstorming. Remember to just scrape the surface, just uncover the upper layer in order to reveal what’s beneath. If you discover a gold vein — that’s wonderful, you are going to get rich on ideas, if it’s fool’s gold — never mind, just move on.

Lines

• Follow the lines with your eyes. Notice where they begin and where they end; quickly try to establish what that might mean: a (mental) distance passed by an actor inside the painting, a relationship between a subject on one end and an object on another (or vice versa). Move on if there is no obvious meaning.

• Assess the thickness of the line, see if it grows thicker or thinner as it covers more distance. From this you may infer symbolical implications (to be determined according with the context of the piece itself). But it may also mean simply a cue, as the artist may want you to increase attention towards the part of the canvas where the line thickens.
  

• Think objects: arrows, pikes, spears; ropes, branches; roads, boundaries, limits. Think abstract: vanishing points, horizon, skyline,sea-line. If you notice that certain objects recur in your mind while studying different parts of the image, you may be on to something.
  

• Assess curves, turns and angles. Literally try to go with the flow: if it is possible, it may mean that the artist intended it that way — try to realize why (but don’t dwell on it for too long) — does he want to instill a certain mood, to convey a feeling, to create an atmosphere?

• Compare and contrast horizontal and vertical lines. Of which kind there is more? What is the ratio between them? What that might mean?
  

Remember to keep your mind open about how all of these traits may lose or gain relevance and significance in accordance with other features. We will talk about interpreting lines more extensively in the future, for now it is important to stay aware and not to lock in on to something definite and finite.

Colors

Once again, avoid in depth analysis, you will have more time for it in the future. Trust you intuitive reaction to the colors you see before you. Often the simplest comparisons and ideas that will pop up in your head are also the most powerful and effective ones.

• Draw from your personal experience: blue can allude to the sky and sea (but so can black), to the background of your screen, the binding of your notebook, “the blues.” Pick up everything trying to start with the biggest objects and concepts (sea), descending to smaller things (screen).

• Assess how color divides the painting. How patches of color generate their own rhythm and underlying meaning. Do the colors dance, walk or run? Are they asleep or awake? Try to find your own examples of personalization and apply them to the colors.
  

• Try to outline roughly the emotional map of the used palette. Colors can be aggressive, submissive, neutral, passive, acerbic, friendly, sharp, warm, cold, hot and so on. Some of these traits characterize palette inherently (temperature signifiers), others are more loose and adjustable to the context.

• Assess the significance of value: do some colors grow weaker or stronger? What is the artistic purpose or logic behind changes in value, what symbolical meanings can you infer.

Finally, don’t shun modern technology. If you feel that using image manipulation programs may help you in understanding the image better, do it. Art historians perform x-rays on their favorite works of art in order to learn how they were composed and painted — you would be conducting a similar experiment. Decolorization, desaturation, black and white rendering are all fair game in your search for understanding palette.

Stay Tuned for Brainstorming Part 3!

 MindTools

Guide to Brainstorming

 So What Is Brainstorming?

Brainstorming means artificially triggering a very real storm of ideas inside your brain. We start because we want to, but we continue because we can’t stop — the process resembles a chain reaction, which once has been set into motion, would cease only after exhausting all available matter, in our case the subject matter of the painting at hand.

Like an atomic explosion, brainstorming may produce megatons of notes and ideas in a very short period of time. All you need is a pen and a piece of paper (or a keyboard and a computer screen) to generate raw material, all or some of which may turn out to be useful in the following careful analysis.

Brainstorming is always about something. In our case, it is about a work of art. In a way, having a definite and known object to write about is a privilege; add to that the subject of the paper that you need to submit, and you have several natural boundaries that will help to keep you focused.

Prepare Carefully and Set a Time Limit

What we are trying to achieve here is to find some sort of a solid framework to tame the chaotic flow of thoughts which becomes unleashed when we start brainstorming. Think of it that way: the inside working of your mind are unknown even to us, but we can prepare for them, and be ready for them when the material starts to flow outside, on to the surface.

This may seem a little paradoxical, but in it fact makes all the sense in the world. If you are dealing with something unexpected and unpredictable, you always prepare the best way you can. If what the movies say is true, that’s what the government does in their programs for alien invasion. But this is worst case scenarios — in our case, the worst case is, in fact, the best. We like alien; we want alien.

Too many stories are being told about wasted opportunities. For instance how many oil wells have been closed down for inefficiency only because the owner could not collect everything that poured out of them. In other words, you want to be ready. There is no guarantee that you won’t surprise yourself (in a good way), but at least you will have some tools to record everything.

• Clean the space around you, sit (or lie) comfortably

• Make a good working pen (and a spare) available

• Stretch a little, wash your face, shake your head: inaugurate the process with a physical act

• Put the watch in front of you; Set a time limit, usually ten minutes is enough

How to Address the Image

It is very important that you decide whether you prefer to look at the image continuously throughout the session or would rather have a long look and then remove the image and work with the painting locked in your mind.

The advantages of the first method are quite obvious. The image is right there in front of you. When stuck, you will be able to shift from one area to another, you will have the ability to rotate it, cover some parts of it, isolate others. Seeing the piece gives you flexibility and allows for a whole range of supporting actions.

The principal disadvantage is that you may become distracted by the painting. This is another paradox: the same object that actually is the center of your attention may interfere with the process of brainstorming about it. What might happen is that you would “regress” to a regular viewing. Brainstorming is supposed to be a very intense, short-lived activity. Once again, ideas need to flow from the inside; having the painting in front of you may tempt you to respond to it superficially and simply write down what you see — this is both time consuming and it deals too much with the outside material. And this undermines the whole exercise.

The advantages of the second method are less evident, yet may be just as powerful. Many people, when imprinting an image in their memory, do it automatically by singling out features that seem most important to them. It so happens that these features are also the ones you will be writing about, they are the first words that will cover the pristine surface of your paper or screen. So in a way, you would have the benefit of knowing exactly where to begin.

The main disadvantage is that the image gradually becomes distorted in our mind, and the stamp it leaves there might be slowly washed away, like a footprint on a sandy beach. That is another reason for the time limit: to optimally use short-term memory while the imprint is still fresh.

So why is it so important? Because it is the first session that is the most fruitful and the most effective — the first experience is usually the most memorable and fresh – this is how our minds work. Fortunately, there is a way out of this conundrum: all you need to do is practice a couple of times. Brainstorm about several paintings using both methods, compare the yields and derive the necessary conclusions. Some, who possess photographic memory will have easier time making a choice.

Stay tuned for Brainstorming Part 2!

Audience

Basically, I hope that anyone and everyone will find the guide helpful in one way or another. There are no specific requirements — I use very little special language and aim to speak in plain and clear terms. This, in fact, is the philosophy behind this whole publication. I hope that high school and undergraduate college/university students, working artists, art bloggers, art lovers and anyone who has the faintest interest in art will enjoy this guide.

I am aware that many of the things said will sound trivial and not particularly innovative. However, it is always the obvious ideas that slip our mind and undermine the quality of our writing: their absence creates nagging shortcomings; identifying them may also seem annoyingly impossible. For those of you who may feel like they already know everything mentioned here, I would like to say: these posts may serve you as a reminder or a reference source for your knowledge.

Although visual arts are the declared main focus, I believe that the guide may be useful for any kind of creative writing, even fiction. As an English undergraduate student writing essays I always visualized, even when trying to express the most abstract ideas. Perhaps I realized a little too late that I should deal with images directly; I am trying to make up for it as I am typing these words. It is strange that I wouldn’t be able to had I once not been an English undergraduate student…

Vladimir Nabokov, one of my favorite writers once said that the optimal audience he can imagine for himself consists of a room full of Nabokov clones — people who think and read exactly like the writer and would understand him immediately and without reservations. I think that although there may be some truth to this vision, it is a somewhat elitist and unproductive attitude. I believe that everybody can and should enjoy art.

A room full of people sounds nice — but to my mind all present must be different, coming from diverse backgrounds, carrying multifarious cultural contexts and impregnated with a set of their own ideas and ideals. I want the opposite of Nabokov’s vision. But he’s still my favorite!

Anyone can do it!

Yes, just like in the movie Ratatouille. The film is about a (talking and clever) rat named Remi, who wants to be a chef. All the odds are against him — being a pest is a problem — but eventually he becomes a successful chef and wins the recognition of his family and colony, who were very skeptic at the beginning.

I am surrounded by engineers and almost everyone in my family, close and remote alike, is in the sciences. So in a way, I am like Remi the rat. Something tells me that there are quite a few rats out there. Well, it’s time we built ourselves a colony and began expanding. No more guilt about loving art!

One of the purposes of this guide is to reassure you that this whole process can be done, learned and mastered absolutely regardless of any innate “talent” or “ability.” Of course some are more likely to enjoy art interpretation and critique, but, first, you need to try it, see if you like it or not, and then decide — you may suddenly discover that you derive great pleasure from this most stimulating mental activity. But regardless of the results, remember: all people possess imagination, and using it is a matter of technique that can be learned and acquired.

Another underlying goal is to demythologize the process: we all like to poke fun at the wannabe connoisseurs, who stand in front of a painting and mumble something about the “Colorful colors.” But why not to take a closer look at the source of the myth and debunk it? You may discover that art interpretation is not that difficult and that the joke has long become passe.

Table of Contents

Let’s take a glimpse at some of the subjects that will be covered in this guide:

• Introduction

• Brainstorming

• The Power of Imagination

• The Power of Association

• Humor vs. Seriousness

• Interpretation of Composition

• Interpretation of Color

Separate chapters can be useful for different purposes. Each post is designed to be an independent small piece of writing including a few main ideas and suggestions on how to elaborate on them. Wherever a reader lands, s/he should be able to derive something from what s/he reads…

Stay tuned for the first part on Brainstorming!

I have been publishing art reviews and critiques for almost a year now. I thought that it would be a good time to share my thoughts and ideas on how to write about art and art interpretation in particular: I have gathered some experience.

I constantly make notes, even just in my head, on how to write about such and such painting or such and such artist. Lately I realized that the best way to organize these notes into a useful collection is by developing and writing a guide. Now is the best time because soon I will start forgetting. Reinventing them would be a waste of time — dedicating time to organizing them is much more useful.

In a few words: “Before it’s too late.”

Why?

If somebody asked me why do I write art reviews my answer would be very simple: I love doing analysis. There is a deep satisfaction in breaking something down to its constituents and then bringing it all back together, but with a new understanding in mind.

Performing analysis makes me feel powerful, and it will make you feel the same way. You will also notice that mastering analysis in one field will help you in other, sometimes totally unexpected spheres. Though some label it as a separate element of critique, analysis, in general, remains the basis for the other elements of the discipline, and is closely linked to interpretation.

Most of my reviews include interpretation in one way or another. I think that this is the most fun and interesting part of writing about art: where you can really get creative and enjoy yourself, without formal restrictions. Because interpretation is inherently subjective, no one can judge your own, if it’s internally logical and generally sensible.

In a few words: “Because it’s fun.”

How?

This version of the Art & Critique Art Interpretation Guide was designed mainly as a textual resource. I am not excluding the option of adding examples, or linking directly to some paintings or even my own reviews as a way to exemplify what was written. For now I want to stay focused on the text.

However, I am actively seeking your suggestions and opinions. If you have any questions about a particular chapter, or need help with a specific painting — this is the place to ask. Just drop a line in the comments, suggest a painting with a well formulated question, and I would gladly answer. I may use these discussions for a more visual and interactive version of the guide in the future.

In a few words: “With a few words.”

When?

Starting from this post, once or twice a week. I cannot commit myself to a more frequent posting due to my tangible life obligations — I am sure you understand. However, to be entirely honest, I do wish to spread the guide for as long as possible, and for several reasons.

First, writing something different provides me with an outlet of a sort. Writing art reviews was very exciting at first — now it has become a routine — one that I enjoy very much, but a routine nevertheless. Writing this guide lets some fresh air into my head; it provides a needed variety.

Second, which is a continuation of the first reason, is that I simply enjoy writing this guide and I would like to prolong the enjoyment. Simple as that.

In a few words: “Not often enough but not as quite seldom.”

Where?

I have already mentioned that the guide is planned to be visible only via RSS. To reiterate the logic behind this restriction: I want to ensure readership and to separate the critical articles from the guide.

Stay tuned for a discussion on the Table of Contents, the Audience and more.