About Art Criticism

When considering art criticism it becomes difficult not to discuss inconsistencies between the content of the work if any exist. It is easy to point out the successful connections of subject matter and the expression achieved; the intended interpretation to be deciphered by the audience. However for professional critics it must be a foregone conclusion to evaluate art so impartially and without subjective personal feelings or prejudices. This of course contributes to the stereotype behind the profile of the critic as that of constantly belittling the interpretive expression of art and offering no positive reinforcement of ideas or concepts behind the formal execution.
It seems that anyone making an evaluation of art should be able to speak their peace. If the points are valid then perhaps the artist should take notice or see things from a different perspective in the future. When accepting criticism artists should consider the convictions behind the critic’s analytical nature and not be offended but enlightened. Its premature to believe that if there is inspiration and passion driven into artwork that the interpretation of the content should be well received and well founded. Even if a review receives negative reactions an artist should not let this deter their vision. Receiving a different reaction than what would be expected is a possibility when our intent is to impart an idea or expression, but in choosing the subject matter that we do, we end up presenting an unintended message due to our ignorance of the context. This can be a valuable lesson though, not just by the opportunity to alleviate our misconceptions of connotations associated with contextual elements but also to generate fresh concepts through real time feedback. As students we are always dealing with these issues and we should take what value we can from them.
The opinions and views of what is good art and what is questionable are as diverse as the number of individual artists themselves. Everything seems to be acceptable and then again everything seems to be subjective. Through further education and exposure to schools of thought on art theory, we can perhaps broaden our understanding of styles and concepts, which we had originally been blind to. Time is also a factor in allowing our thoughts to rationalize what we see with what we know. In past experiences time has sometimes filled the gap between my preconceived values of artistic standards and the rest of the creative world. Concepts of genuine epiphany should always be put to the test no matter how foreboding the scrutiny maybe.