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I visited the exhibition, "Siena, The Art of Painting", at the Metropolitan Museum with a painter friend and she showed me photos that she was taking as we were about halfway through the exhibition. It was almost like we were at two different shows. I was looking at the style and subjects of the paintings and reading the cards and she was focusing on the color--just the color! Her photos were close up shots of small aspects of the paintings trying to understand the color relationships. I have to say that for me, it was like looking at a completely different exhibition. It was an eye opener, one that I should not have been surprised by as my painter friend is very good at what she does and she is thoroughly focused on what she chooses to look at. Color is her metier, after all.
My approach to art is how it engages me, but it is obvious that there are more ways to engage with a painting than the subject alone. There are so many ways that we can look at a painting and to extrapolate from what we see, that it is like looking at something with altogether different eyes. I think this is akin to how successful people do what they do, be they philosophers or scientists, business executives or whatever. You want to find every way imaginable for looking at ideas just in case you are missing the obvious. When I was writing about style several weeks ago, I realized that I spent the time, years ago, to really understand rococo, and I can assure you it wasn't easy, so that I see it very differently from the way most dealers and private clients do. There is a puzzle quality it to that requires an accomplished carver to fit the pieces together so they don't read like clutter and convincingly convey a sense of artistic bravura. Few people see this--what they see is scrambled eggs, as a rule. Many people won't even look at it as they feel it is just too chaotic.
I believe that we are all brought up to make choices about what we like or dislike. The choice made is usually considered to be binary which can be limiting. Figuring out just why it is that you may not like something may be well worth the time, particularly if you can separate aspects such as the color relationships my artist friend focused on. There are pieces of furniture that just work--they sing, because the sum of their parts work so very well together. But not every piece is like that. Occasionally, you will see a leg or a table top or a carved section on a piece that entrances you. But you have to be looking for it to see it because it won't be obvious. This is the crux of the matter. Just as I say the color relationships on the paintings at the Met, I didn't really see them for the way they were so sublimely juxtaposed. I was not thinking about them, I was simply accepting them. The fulfillment we look for in whatever it is we are doing is partly in those things we don't see that are staring us in the face. It's quite amazing when you really think on it.
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