How to Criticize Art
…How to give yourself a chance to open up to new art
Criticism and opinion should be as objective as possible for it to be useful. No one cares whether anyone likes it or not or even they are tolerant of it. That’s not the point of art or criticism. What we want to know is What is it worth to me? The critic only can help others by relating his personal experience. To help give a personal reaction a chance to come to life, to give art a chance to make a spark instead of a reflex, especially if it might be new, answer the following questions. Otherwise, you’ll be at great risk of just judging by your old habits and preconceived notions. Questions are great tools for awakening, and the more concrete they are, and the less feelings-oriented they are, the better able you’ll be to wake up any part of yourself to something new. This approach isn’t as techy as it might look. It lets the heart work as well as the mind.
*1: What is the artist attempting? What are the questions he poses, the challenges he gives himself. Trite or meaty? Does he set up straw men or go for the heart of the matter?
*2: Does the artist achieve what he set out to do? If he fails are his failures understandable or to be held against him? The bigger, bolder and braver the attempt the more tolerance allowed. Is he lazy? Does he blunder from willful blindness? This sort of failure is less tolerable.
*3: Have you seen similar attempts? Is another artist doing the same thing better? Is there room for both? It helps to factor in ‘whose ox is being gored’ when evaluating a response. If you react, notice what part of you is reacting before judging, evaluate relative priorities. (How comfortable are we ever with something new, with the truth?)
*4: What tradition is the artist part of? Does he declare himself part of a tradition? Is he right? Is the artist adding to this heritage or rehashing old stuff.
*5: Lastly, is he telling the truth? Obviously, this isn’t as easy as it might seem. You have to press for it to get close enough to earn anyone’s respect. Superficial truth results in simple facts, unexamined contradictions. Finding useful truth involves resolving or at least confronting one contradiction after another. Is the artist on such a path?
