by Allison Beldon-Smith

Created on: October 09, 2008   Last Updated: February 17, 2009

Everyone can appreciation art, and evidence exists to substantiate this fact since tha dawn of time. To appreciate art is not to appraise whether or not we actually like an individual creation, nor is it to contemplate whether we would purchase it to adorn our home, this is a very modern appraisal. Furthermore we should not stand in judgement of it, as to whether it is good or bad. To appreciate art is simply to try and understand what the artist is attempting to communicate, for it is humanities oldest cultural record, used long before the written word was even conceived. The simple methodology discovered by our primitive forbearers for turning factuality into recorded memory, attained by reducing the living three dimensional into the static two dimensional. For thousands of years this was seen and accepted unconditionally as powerful magic. They were unaware that their artistic talents would be used hundreds of generations later to glean insights into their environment and existence; and that from these simple beginnings the earliest record of human social history would be established.

So when we look at art work, whether it be the architectural designs of historic buildings, the designs of romantic gardens and magnificent parklands, or the vast collections of fine art and sculptures within numerous esteemed galleries, remember it really is of no consequence whether you actually like them. What really matters is that you realize each was created by the artist either to impart the energies and opinions they held as an individual regarding their life upon this earth, or the complete opposite, in direct response to the fashionable demands imposed upon them by their patrons.

Now with the myth of art appreciation debunked, and all pretentiousness of superior knowledge defused, we can look upon the worlds great collections with the same critical and socially conscious eye as one does graffiti and the media intrusion of adverts that invade our daily lives like an infectious rash. The initial question to ask oneself is, "What is the message encoded within the artwork? What is this picture trying to communicate to me? More often than not these answers are deep, but occasionally they are the exact opposite, so shallow and simple that they almost defy intellectual interpretation. Either way the best place to start is with one's own gut feeling; say to yourself "what emotions does this artwork arouse within me?" This is the starting point of all art appreciation; to identify

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