The eyes as main tool for connecting with art
How does one look at a piece of art? Well, the most intuitive and ‘duh’ answer that comes to mind when confronted with such a question is, more or less comically, with the eyes. Yet, simplistic and obvious as it may sound, this way of coming to terms with such a vast question points towards a surprising shift in and expansion of perception, underlining how every piece of art is, at its core, not merely about the object displayed per se, but heroically finds its place of endless rebirth through each viewer’s sensorial palette to which the eyes act as a sort of introductory guardian and guidance. The eyes act as a bridge between the thing looked at and the viewer’s other senses which come to form a more complex understanding of what the said object manages to spark within us.
Understanding ourselves is understanding art
When in doubt it’s always good to start simple, for it is always in the simple things that the tools and fabric of complexity really get weaving. Allowing oneself to simply see the work of art apart from its formal integration into a certain movement or style, be it a classic canonical piece or modern concept art, creates a strong bond between the timelessness of the piece and the particular presence in time of the one engaging with it. If permitted, the artistic object summons a certain universality of impact by opening up an honest dialogue with the one perceiving it. Without necessarily trying, it shows us to ourselves in ways that we sometimes might not even notice. Do I like it or not? Why? What is it about it that I connect or don’t connect with and what does that inform me about myself – emotionally, socially, culturally? What does it trigger in me and to what can I trace those triggers back? Does it make me excited, sad, uncomfortable? Am I trying to see more than my intuition suggests first-hand? What am I trying to get out of it?
No textbook, nonsense makes sense too
But why try in the first place? The thing is, when looking at a piece of art we don’t have to be knowledgeable or to ‘get it’ in an exact prescribed way as some people may be anxious about. Perhaps not ‘getting it’ is actually what art is all about. It’s a description and a direction rather than a boldened explanation of something. It’s about how it makes us think and feel, not what. It ultimately erases that robotic practicality of ‘how to’ and ‘what for’ of today’s society productivity label and constantly readdresses our basic senses as the rooting origin of experience and understanding. Ultimately, even when exemplifying the highest struggles, every work of art is a recurrent embodiment and reminder how striking it is to just be. So my advice when wondering how to look at a piece of art would be to erase the ‘how’ and just look.
