The truth is, these days, a lot of us or should I say myself? I personally enjoy an art work better when I know there is a deeper story behind it. I mean, it gives this feeling that the artist or whosoever is behind such masterpiece understands it to a very good degree. Whenever we create something, be it music, a painting, food, clothes and so on, even when it is something that people can appreciate without a deeper meaning, when that deeper meaning comes in, it makes it even more priceless and relatable.
Isaac Newton once said, that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Applying it to the discussion of whether or not we need a deeper interpretation to an art before we appreciate it, I’d say that, when we know the reason why something is done or why something is the way it is, that is the only way we can be able to react in the right way (although not all the time) to that particular thing. You definitely can’t compare an art work that has a defined meaning to one that doesn’t. It only means that, anyone can just wake up one day and give a strange meaning to that art work.
The importance of having an original meaning to an art work can’t be overemphasized and this role is given solely to the artist themselves. This is because, the moment someone else tries to give an interpretation to that art work, there is every possibility of giving a wrong interpretation except, the person is also a genius in act of interpreting different art works. The truth is, no matter how meaningless something might look or be like, the one who has originally created such an art will always have a why to it.
But then, this doesn’t also in anyway means that one can’t enjoy an artwork without having or knowing the deep meaning behind it. You can definitely enjoy it but then, it won’t mean much to you, it would just be there for the fun of it. Unlike someone who appreciates every singe thing about that artwork, because of how much they can relate to these artworks. It helps them appreciate the artist better and that is why we see that we all have different artists we enjoy their works. This is so because, most of these works are something that the story behind them are what we can relate with or we just enjoy it for what it is.
After all, the only reason you want to know the story behind an art work, is because it piqued your interest. If an artwork fails to draw your attention, that is when we have the question of whether or not a deeper meaning is important. If I heard a soothing melody from an artist, it is only then I want to listen to more of his or her song and when most of their albums impresses me, I want to know what are the motivations behind those lyrics and harmonies.
I have a lot of art works that I admire but then I know little or nothing of what it truly means because I just enjoyed my first glance at it or my first listen to it. But then, there are others that I go the extra mile to know more about them because for some reason it just does not feel right that I don’t know why such a work of art was done. And the moment I know a little more about it, the more I get to understand and appreciate that work even better. When it comes to art, the understanding of it is important and that is why as much as you can, I will always encourage us to always seek to understand something first before making a theory about it.
I always believe that, there is a theme to every art works, bearing in mind that some themes might be “no meaning”. They call such themes, freestyle which means it is okay for anyone to give any meaning to it. Well, these are some of my thoughts about this. Feel free to leave your contribution and also your thoughts too, let’s learn from each other.
Thank you for reading through. ❤️
