How to See
Bernadine Franco teaches us how to look at art
Guest post by Bernadine Franco, host of Beyond the Paint with Bernadine
Collecting objects of art is a means of self-expression. Incorporating works you invest in into your personal space gives it life. “Most art is bought because the viewer has a visceral reaction to it; it speaks to them and they want to own it and live with it,” says arts conservator Gordon A. Lewis. In the collaborative process of collecting, you will find a true sense of what you like and what speaks to you. What strategies can you implement to discover what styles and mediums of art resonate with you? What subjects are important to you, and why? Are there any artists addressing these subjects and styles in a new, meaningful ways?
How do you answer these questions? First you need to look; to engage in a deep looking experience with art. The Art Institute of Chicago in their video production “Power to Look,” offers an excellent dive into the “visual qualities of an artwork” These qualities shape the way we look and interpret objects of art. Artists put us in a position through visual strategies to draw us into a prism of viewpoints and meanings. Before you consider the artist’s biography, their artist statement, historical context of the work, describe what you see. I personally refrain from reading the title of the work because that can shape my initial perceptions. As you describe what you see, consider the works colors, lines, textures, shapes, forms. What associations do you make as you describe the work? What reverberates through your senses? Matching words with what you see creates the space for your personal interpretation.
Sally Brown, Tribute to Hannah Höch
In my bedroom, above a book case (the top shelf is dedicated to 19th century women texts), streams of brightly colored paint strokes flow into ponds of pinks and yellows. The framed 18x24 work is a body print, Tribute to Hannah Hoch, composed by the feminist artist, writer, curator Sally Brown. Her body, saturated with various hues of paint, serves as the printing plate onto the paper. The somersault of colors enlivens my senses and draws my curiosity to the unevenness of splotches that give the work a sculptural feel. When I take time to look closely, I feel completely in the present moment. Brown’s exploration of the female body speaks to the feminine experience and my own sensuality. The work brings aliveness to my personal space. My looking experience becomes a livable, visual retreat between myself, the collector and the hand (for Brown, the body) of the artist’s visual expression.
-Bernadine Franco
Postscript: Hannah Höch is a 20th century artist and pioneer of photomontage (“collage work that includes cut or torn and pasted photographs or photographic reproductions”). She appropriated and recombined images and text from mass media to critique popular culture. (MoMA)
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