When I view a work of art in a museum, usually I look at the little white box next to it telling me about the piece of art. When I’m watching a moving form of art, I read the excerpts in the program. When I’m listening to music, I read the lyrics online. This is my way of finding out the truth behind that work of art.
It’s difficult to say if I’m ever going to find the truth about any art because every work of art is a part of the artist. Whatever the little box says, whatever the program says, and whatever the lyrics say are all just a little bit of info to help me understand where the work of art is derived from. But I’ll never be able to truly feel what the artist felt when creating this work of art. I’m merely just a viewer. I only can take what I perceive as the truth. That’s the most difficult part of deciding which art you like best and which art reaches out to you the most. Because we’ll never know if we’re interpreting this work the way the artist wanted us to interpret it.
It’s actually kind of sad realizing this but that’s also another beauty of art: art can hold an infinite amount of definitions. This is why art inspires us and teaches us about society. There is no clear cut definition when it comes to analyzing a piece of art and what is meant to be “read” from it. Sometimes, we may be feeling what the artist is feeling. We may see the truth but it is not the truth of the world, it is only the truth of the artist. Unfortunately, we may never find out the truth the artist is trying to say but we’ll always have the truth within ourselves. That’s the beauty of art, its limitless definitions.
