How to gallery visit like an artist
3min read - a totally adjustable, be-yourself guide to experiencing an art gallery. Part 1 of 3.
Artist: Cressida Campbell
Get your nose in the details (as close as the local security will let you).
Can you spot the way this artist, Cressida Campbell, carved fine details into the focal flowers? You may wonder how she got each carved line so thin and precise, (the gallery may have a video playing to show you, or you ca youtube a process video of hers to find out!)
ADAM (ADAM GOODES) 2014 Artist: Alan Jones
2. Look up close for interesting texture or unexpected colours
3. Then stand far away
and watch how the tiny mixed up textures and colours make a big collective beauty.
ADAM (ADAM GOODES) 2014 Artist: Alan Jones
4. Can you spot any symbolism or messages?
More than just the clear red-yellow-black theme in the outfit, the skin highlights in this portrait are yellow, and the shadows are red. For those new to Australian history, they’re the colours of the Aboriginal flag. Overlay this knowledge with who this woman is, and her role in our system, for more meaning.
LOWITJA O'DONOGHUE, 2006 Artist: Robert Hannaford AM
5. Zoom out even further
Walk through the space - How have the different artworks, artists, and installations been arranged together as a whole? Are there common themes, or stark contrasts
NANCY BORLASE AND LAURIE SHORT, 1991, Artist: Jenny Sages
Artist: Cressida Campbell
Here’s the summary:
The first step is breaking through the pretentious walls of the art industry
• Like wine, you can learn more information over time, but when just starting out, start with what you feel - do you like it aesthetically, is it interesting, is it off-putting? All feelings (and lack of feelings) are valid.
• Art is a visual form of communication, does anything stand out as a symbol or process to you? Some artists like to make their message very clear, others like to leave the viewer (you) to make their own meaning. Where on this spectrum do you think this artist is sitting?
• Zoom in and out - from each brushstroke of each piece, to each piece making up a whole show. Sometimes there are bigger concepts to be seen, other times it’s just cool to experience the same work from different views.
• Give your brain and heart space to feel, to understand without having words, to not understand and move on, to interact or observe.
There’s no wrong way to interact with art. Stay as long or as little as you like.
