People believe art to be the painting on the wall.

The truth is, the picture is just one third of the art.

Artistic perception

Another “third” of the art comes from artistic perception. This is a trainable skill that emerges from familiarity with a medium.

Constraining perception to a single medium (“paintings”, for instance) narrows the scope of requisite understanding significantly. An understanding of colour, shape, brushworks, angles and all else that constitute expression allows the viewer to embed meaning into more points within the artwork. This meaning is derived from an understanding of the choices made by the artist, and the significance that these choices bear.

A kind of artistic language emerges. The artist speaks, and the viewer hears.

Barthes concept of “the death of the author” is often taken to mean that the artist and the artwork should be severed from one another, enabling the art to be viewed regardless of artist. Perhaps a more useful framework is to consider the death of a subcomponent – the experiences – of the author, rather than the entirety of their being. The benefit of this is that it still retains the inclusion of the artists choices – colour, composition, line, shape, etc – in the artwork.

Viewer experience

To fill the gap taken from removing the artist’s experience from the artwork, the final “third” of the art must be introduced. This portion comes from the subjective experiences of the viewer. From you. To look at a Rothko and find it simplistic is to admit ones own superficiality and lack of imaginative ability. It is the imitation of our own experiences in a different form that gives art it’s beauty, and only you can draw the parallels between your life and the artwork.

No one has lived the same life as you, so no one will draw the same conclusions as you when placing their experiences and perception onto the artwork. Without lived experience, art is reduced to a series of brushstrokes on a canvas.

Life

What if the scope of perception is expanded outside a specific art form?

Each art form is simply a language used by the artist to convey ideas. The language is derived from a series of rules – not unlike the universal rules that govern life itself. If one were to devote themselves to learning this language of life (most commonly referred to as the acquisition of wisdom), it would stand to reason that communication with creation itself is possible.

A wise man is simply a man that listens.

Combining this with a well-lived life, rich in experience, would add depth and perspective to an individuals existence to the point where meaning was abundant in the most simplistic of circumstances. A simple walk in the park is transformed into a stroll through the gallery of nature. A conversation with a friend is a joyous dance of human connection. The preparation of a meal becomes an expression of oneself for the pleasure of the group.

Live. Make mistakes. Cry. Laugh. Build a collection of experiences so abundant in depth that they colour everything that they touch.

Doing so is the only way to experience a life as meaningful as art.