There are so many options for purchasing art that it is easy to
become overwhelmed with options. For example you can find simple
paintings at Marshall's, or their name brand cousins, like Marshall
Fields aka Macy's. There are paintings in small boutiques, galleries,
and of course all over the online world. If you are a super bargain
hunter you will certainly bump into artwork at garage sales, basements,
and estate sales. You may have gotten something from a friend too or a
family member may have passed something on to you. But, within all these
options comes the single most important issue, how is it that you are
supposed to narrow the field and make an informed decision regarding
your final purchase? Even more important is the concept that you may
need to decide again in the future, and if you just seemed to like the
painting without any rationale you will never be able to duplicate it
with another paintings and you will be hard-pressed to create a cohesive
art collection.
Initially when you look out at a painting, and try to determine if this is the one you will buy, you need to forget everything that exists external to the image. This means that it is this painting that is in front of you that needs to determine if it has value. Not a categorical system, or your friends, or the gallery owner. The painting you are judging must stands on it's own merits. This is also true for art that is not what you are seeking to buy--that is, it will also fail only based on it's own conversation with you.
One reason we can classify a piece of art without a starting point, or 'zeroing out the scale', is because the evaluation of the composition and other niceties of the painting can be measured independently of external things. Such as the golden ratio, or color scheme. None of these analytical tools of painting assessment require a need for baselines to tell us what the human brain enjoys.
If the artwork you are looking at grabs your attention then the artist was effective in creating a painting that teases the subtle nuances of the human mind. This means that they must employ certain psychological and biological tools to capture you within the painting.
The first thing that is required is a very strong primary interest. This is because without a strong entrance into the piece of art you will never give it more than a glance. This primary interest uses the color theory tools of the biological realm to create a sharp contrast between darks and lights in one location. This type of tool forces your eyes to the painting. Regardless of what the subject matter of the painting is. It is pretty powerful when an artist says first look at my work, and then demands thinking about it's subject. But, the great master artists design other components into their works too. Such as the psychological concept that humans tend to seek eyes to understand emotions right away to determine threats. This is another inescapable tool for captivation. As a viewer you will have no control when looking at a great work of art. It will grab you and force you to look at it.
But, what happens to you once you looked at the masterpiece laid out on the canvas in front of you? You will be forced to move your eyes from the initial point to another point on the painting. This movement is much harder for an artist to do to you. It means that they have a cohesive canvas with a single primary point of interest and then other subtle secondary interest points. The secondary points can not compete with the doorway into the painting. It is much harder to employ since you should actually be zipping your eyes from one secondary point to another within the painting. This zipping back and forth requires your eyes to never fly right out of the canvas. In fact, some of the master artists had 3 or more secondary points that they captivated you within. The lines of the drawing help guide your eyes from one to the next. If a line of sight--such as a tree line, fence, median of the road, knife on a table, building roof-line, or shaft of sun--guides you right out the painting or has something that crosses it your eyes will be gone from the artists captivation.
This is very important to understand since this is where the artists allows you a moment to grasp the 2, 3, or more elements that form the subject area of this painting. You are given a moment to think about them while having your eyes scroll from one to the next in a repeatable pattern. But, what does the artist do after introducing you to his subjects in the painting? He should be able to give you an escape hatch to stretch a moment from the main subject. So your eyes have been grabbed towards the painting, then the artwork slowly guided you from point A to point B to point C right into an area where the tones are all similar, the colors match, and there should be a hidden gem that ties the painting together and gives you one of those special moments. These moments are extremely important to you. It is where you will say oh my god, or wow.
Functional MRI or fMRI has conclusively shown that the 'ah ha' moment is a lot like the moment when your brain gets a joke. It all fires in synchrony and you suddenly get it. It is exciting, and refreshing to have your mind take a few disparate items and then merge them in a new manner. This treat for your mind is what the painting should be about to you.
But, what do you seek afterward? The painting should now talk to you on a very personal level. The true masters that have stood the test of time are art that spoke to moments in human history that are repeated in cycles and will exist in every generation. Thus allowing each new person viewing the art to merge it with their current lives circumstances. This is what will make the painting loved by everyone else, and this is what will make is special to look at every day in your family room or another prominent location. If it does not pass this test then the painting is only good for your eyes, and will be difficult to express to others the joy you inherited from this art piece.
Initially when you look out at a painting, and try to determine if this is the one you will buy, you need to forget everything that exists external to the image. This means that it is this painting that is in front of you that needs to determine if it has value. Not a categorical system, or your friends, or the gallery owner. The painting you are judging must stands on it's own merits. This is also true for art that is not what you are seeking to buy--that is, it will also fail only based on it's own conversation with you.
One reason we can classify a piece of art without a starting point, or 'zeroing out the scale', is because the evaluation of the composition and other niceties of the painting can be measured independently of external things. Such as the golden ratio, or color scheme. None of these analytical tools of painting assessment require a need for baselines to tell us what the human brain enjoys.
If the artwork you are looking at grabs your attention then the artist was effective in creating a painting that teases the subtle nuances of the human mind. This means that they must employ certain psychological and biological tools to capture you within the painting.
The first thing that is required is a very strong primary interest. This is because without a strong entrance into the piece of art you will never give it more than a glance. This primary interest uses the color theory tools of the biological realm to create a sharp contrast between darks and lights in one location. This type of tool forces your eyes to the painting. Regardless of what the subject matter of the painting is. It is pretty powerful when an artist says first look at my work, and then demands thinking about it's subject. But, the great master artists design other components into their works too. Such as the psychological concept that humans tend to seek eyes to understand emotions right away to determine threats. This is another inescapable tool for captivation. As a viewer you will have no control when looking at a great work of art. It will grab you and force you to look at it.
But, what happens to you once you looked at the masterpiece laid out on the canvas in front of you? You will be forced to move your eyes from the initial point to another point on the painting. This movement is much harder for an artist to do to you. It means that they have a cohesive canvas with a single primary point of interest and then other subtle secondary interest points. The secondary points can not compete with the doorway into the painting. It is much harder to employ since you should actually be zipping your eyes from one secondary point to another within the painting. This zipping back and forth requires your eyes to never fly right out of the canvas. In fact, some of the master artists had 3 or more secondary points that they captivated you within. The lines of the drawing help guide your eyes from one to the next. If a line of sight--such as a tree line, fence, median of the road, knife on a table, building roof-line, or shaft of sun--guides you right out the painting or has something that crosses it your eyes will be gone from the artists captivation.
This is very important to understand since this is where the artists allows you a moment to grasp the 2, 3, or more elements that form the subject area of this painting. You are given a moment to think about them while having your eyes scroll from one to the next in a repeatable pattern. But, what does the artist do after introducing you to his subjects in the painting? He should be able to give you an escape hatch to stretch a moment from the main subject. So your eyes have been grabbed towards the painting, then the artwork slowly guided you from point A to point B to point C right into an area where the tones are all similar, the colors match, and there should be a hidden gem that ties the painting together and gives you one of those special moments. These moments are extremely important to you. It is where you will say oh my god, or wow.
Functional MRI or fMRI has conclusively shown that the 'ah ha' moment is a lot like the moment when your brain gets a joke. It all fires in synchrony and you suddenly get it. It is exciting, and refreshing to have your mind take a few disparate items and then merge them in a new manner. This treat for your mind is what the painting should be about to you.
But, what do you seek afterward? The painting should now talk to you on a very personal level. The true masters that have stood the test of time are art that spoke to moments in human history that are repeated in cycles and will exist in every generation. Thus allowing each new person viewing the art to merge it with their current lives circumstances. This is what will make the painting loved by everyone else, and this is what will make is special to look at every day in your family room or another prominent location. If it does not pass this test then the painting is only good for your eyes, and will be difficult to express to others the joy you inherited from this art piece.
Menachem (Mendy) Zimmerman is the owner of Exclusive Canvas Art
[http://www.exclusivecanvasart.com/index.com/]. His art speaks to the
mind as well as to aesthetics. His art typically hovers around the
Impressionistic, contemporary genres, and he typically includes figures,
music, and Religious Motifs from his early years. He works on private
commissions, public commissions, and has many of his works recreated in
low number lithographic reprints both on paper as well as canvas. He Blogs About Art
as well too, so be sure to check their first before purchasing an
artwork to ensure you are getting the best prices on the most amazing
art at Exclusive Canvas Art.
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