Learning to Interact with Art

Without humans there would be no art. There would be no one to create it, no one to find it, and no one to interact with it. Civilizations have survived for centuries without basic necessities but not one has survived long without art. Art provides us with the stories that become the social fabric of our lives, that keep us from destroying one another. Art is woven into human nature like a portal to the collective soul. Art is interactive, or at least has the potential to be interactive, especially at the soul level. Sometimes we’re unaware of it. For me, I love showing my art to all kinds of different people. Every new pair of eyes sees something that I can’t. It gives me a broader understanding of what I created. I can’t help but interact with the pieces I create, but every viewer that sees the piece brings another dimension to it. 

There are so many different expressions of art. True art engages the emotion and the intellect. Some art, particularly some modern art, seems strictly focused on being smart enough to understand it. Modern art tends toward making statements, rather than asking questions. Andy Warhol, a man who became the face of modern art says, “You have to do stuff that average people don’t understand because those are the only good things.” He is suggesting that only a few can understand art and it is not for everyone. When an artist creates the goal is not to isolate but to connect. People that don’t know anything about “art” are the ones that have a clearer understanding of what art is, because they aren’t trying to impress anyone or get approval by saying they “understand” modern art even when they don’t. 

Children give the best feedback on art. They are, first of all, harsh critics. If something isn’t good, they’ll tell you. But more than that, they see things that adults simply cannot. They have no self consciousness around what they’re thinking. They see things that our adult minds throw out so quickly we didn’t even know it was there to begin with. For example, I was in the middle of painting a small portrait of an actor. Nothing special, no objects or other images, just his face, colors and and his expression. My three year old cousin stopped to stare at it for a while. After a minute I asked her, “What is it? What do you see?” Without hesitation and with pure confidence she said, “A Wolf.” I was floored. I looked at my sister, who shared the same shocked expression. I looked at the portrait again and I saw what she saw. The man I painted did indeed look like a wolf. Children live in a world of endless imagination and possibility. Maybe as we grow up we lose touch with that universe and our imagination slowly gets more and more confined. Our wonder and our curiosity is kicked out and replaced with facts and reality. Maybe creating, and viewing art is our way of trying to stay connected to that world, trying to rediscover the world we feel we’ve lost. 

I encourage everyone to interact with art.  Say the first thing you think of when you see a piece of art, entertain that weird thought, image or idea that popped into your head. Explore how a piece makes you feel and bring yourself to it. You, are what makes art true. Dust off your curiosity and pull your wonder out from the closet and discover a new relationship.

Millie Barlow August 1, 2019

Below is the finished painting that I decided to title “The Wolf.”