Art Critique

"Art is always criticized and always an outsider gets the blame." Ville Vallo

     Art is a form of beauty. It is beautiful because many different people can have unique interpretations on a single piece. The issue then becomes how closely related are the artists meaning and the audiences interpretation. Artists have often constructed pieces that are interpreted by others in a way not intended by the creator. There are two sides to this issue. The first is that many different opinions can be extremely beneficial. The alternative is that different view points stray the audience from the actual intended purpose.
     First let us look at many different view points. Different view points allow different opinions. What is great about living in the United States is that each person is entitled to their own opinion.We do not live in a theocracy where criticism is prohibited. Therefore, this all adds to the beauty of being unique and seeing things differently. Different is good. Recently I was at a local elementary school reading a book to first graders. The book was titled, "You Be You" by Linda Kranz. The book teaches kids that uniqueness is precious. Kids are often falling into traps of peer pressure these days. Kids should be taught that different opinions are highly valuable. The book gets this point across. In relating this to art, art is beautiful because people can see it many different ways. Two similar people walk into a art gallery, and each leaves a different person.
     The argument can also be made that unique view points corrupt ideas and minds. When their is one clear purpose to be sent across the table, it doesn't always get there. Think of it as a game of telephone, the story keeps changing, and the initial "idea" often doesn't get to the end. If you want to get a point across, I agree that artwork is powerful. However, it is not the most efficient way to describe an event to the tee. There is this "wiggle-room" that can corrupt the image.
     Recently in class, we talked about the idea of museums and what the purpose of museums are. An art museum can be for profit or non for profit. If it is for profit, then the art will displace things to get people into their institution. This can be dangerous and powerful. Dangerous because it can lead to the sole focus on money, of powerful because the money can do a lot of good for the museum. Each is a possibility. However, if a museum is non for profit, it can still be extremely productive. In that case, it can pool all of its resources on educating the public through art. Art is a powerful teaching tool. Visual learners are empowered by art. But the issue of different view points comes into play here.
     Now the thought of how this affects outsiders. Outsiders are definitely not the artist. The artist him/herself is "in" on whatever piece of work he/she is producing. So then the outsider can be considered the audience. In reference to the quote, the outsider can also be considered the critic. A critics job is to well criticize. It is extremely easy to find flaws and form criticisms. That is why a critics job is easy. However, critics form controversy. That is why they are often blamed. The quote stipulates this extremely well. An artist can easily blame the critic because the critic's views are not the same as the artist's views. Therefore the artist blames the critic. The reality of it is that the critic just has a unique view to the work of art. In that situation, critics are important because as an outsider, they see things differently.