When artists create certain kinds of works, they sometimes lost grip of the ideas or feelings that motivated them at the particular moment when such works hit exhibition ground. In this way, they can not speck well or coherently in providing basic tips for an art historian or critic to build on the analysis of such a work. At some points, the artist never finds a suitable title for his/her work and end-up given it “Untitled” title. However, there is a way one can approach the analysis of such a work for proper understanding of the public.
First thing is to find a theme which the work falls under. The thematic categorization of visual art works helps in linking the work into a particular social backgrounds like political, religious, or cultural aspect of the society in which the work is created. The thematic meaning of an art work can be derived by looking at available evidence present on the body of the work. Such evidence may be the motifs, visual symbols or general appearance of the work.
The second thing is to consider the visual forms as well as shapes of the image(s) which make up the composition. Sometimes, the visual forms provide clues on certain ideas that were running through the artist’s mind while the work was being created. In this way, the critic or art historian can make analytical statements which are suggestive of certain thoughts which are probably true of the artist’s position. Such statements are not supposed to be judgmentally conclusive, rather they are avenues for provoking other views about the work to enhance general understanding of the work.
Another thing to consider in analyzing visual art works is colour. This is mostly in painting, as some artists make use of certain hue to complement the feelings in their heart. For example, when an artist feels love, peace or happy, he or she normally expresses it in colours by using cool colours like blues, tamed cool red, or other variations of sweet hues. When an artist is experiencing hard times and is probably angry about a particular situation, he or she uses colours that show displeasure in a particular visual expressions. On the whole, colour speaks volumes about the psychological nature of the artists. Colour interpretation reveals a lot about the feeling or nature of the artist in a particular work.
In sculpture however, the appearance of a work sometimes is a complete expression of the artist’s nature at a particular moment in life. When a sculpture is looking weak either by representing figures that tell on the human helpless nature, it may be indirectly revealing the true nature or feeling of the artist at the time such a work was being created.
Above all, a work of art provides multiple angles in viewing it. The artist stand point is the first to be considered. This is because the artist is the maker or creator of the work and must have been motivated by something before producing the work. The second is the environment in which the work is created. This is because the things that happen in the artist’s environment gives him or her inspirations in making works as visual commentary on various issues. The other angle is the individual view point that people have after looking at certain kinds of works. This also helps as it provides a general insight into knowing how people understand the work in their own way. All these put together help in providing tangible tips in analyzing an art work for proper understanding of the public.
*** Art in Disguise ***
