Art observation middx

Stewart Martin & Rob Stone
Art Education and Educating Art
Wright a 500 word essay in which you imagine yourself looking upon yourself. This does not have to be a truthful self but may be an invention or a small part if yourself. The piece must be an account based on watching yourself engaging with an object or piece of art. In this essay you must explore the engagement between yourself and the object or piece of art. What does the object or piece of Art mean to you or what effect does it have on you? Explore the engagement between the imaginary you or small part of you in relation to your true self.
This is to explore the idea that not any two people would engage with a piece of art in the same way. The same piece of art can be analysed differently, create different feelings and mean different things to different people. Incredibly enough not any two art critics or historians agrees with interpretation of an artist of piece of art.
This is a project with out an answer. The only answer is the answer I decide to give it!
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ESHHS Conference Oslo 2006 / 0921 Work of Art

Bewildered by the hustle and bustle of everyday life; an art gallery seemed like an ideal trip in an attempt to engage with other peoples representation on this cold and confusing world for an in content human such as she. She hoped to discover a comfort in a unity of male hate. As a silently frustrated and angry individual, the theory of adopting a self content persona and essence through others frustrated painted outbursts was surprisingly just as straight forward in practice as in her mind or on canvas. The verbal noise of the outside world closed shut and silent like a lid of a biscuit tin. Although, rather than opening a silent universe of still, simple and thoughtful art, she opened a door into a visually frustrated, struggling world of colour. No different than she. Her eyes fixated on a small vertical rectangle painting at the end of her narrow gaze like a frame through a photographers lens. The hall echoed as the sound of foot steps broke the silence as she approached the painting. Glaring back at her was an elegant and delicately marked woman, naked from the head to her lower stomach and slouched over a larger than life wolf. She looked at the painting as an accurate but disappointing representation of women. The gold crown upon the woman’s head seemed a mockery of this female; alone and defenceless in her ancient world and her nakedness seemed inappropriate and degrading. Is this a sign that a male dominated world is timeless, traditional and here to stay? Could it be possible that the artist created this woman as a way of expressing her inner concern for the female race? She was not alone in this confusion. The woman expresses no more than a blank canvas but the wolf seems in control and a smirk is apparent. Ironically she thinks just like herself, the woman is surrounded by brilliant elaborate colour, music, fun and opportunities but the door is closed and makes them unreachable. Can only men enjoy loud expressive demonstrations of emotion and control? Is it right that women should stay drained from colour, control and detail. She looks and laughs for a moment…even the painter was observant enough to express the male dominated world with triangles and small hard or rough edges, where as the woman; true to herself is smooth and flows like a river of consistency. The men do not realise this but the woman radiates gold and therefore importance. Gold makes the world go around and is the centre of survival. The woman is the backbone of every home and creates generation after generation of new survivors. She takes a second look and focuses her attention on the lying figure under the smiling wolf. Could it be a man begging for mercy? He appears wrapped in a cloth of superficial triangles and colour but he hides his face in shame. His hand reaches out for mercy, or is he reaching for the gold?
She takes a step back from the painting and takes another look at it, this time with patience and with out anger. She engages in stillness and this time feels as natural as oil to canvas. She notices the world surrounding the woman is colourful but confused and the woman is in control, calm, pure in colour and content.
She takes a deep breath and retraces her echoing steps out of the tin gallery towards the hustle and bustle of a masculine world. She is content and in the knowledge that women should let men think that they are in control but be content in the fact that men would not be successful with out gold!
She realised that life; just like the painting has no right or wrong answers, men may well decide to dominate but she and women in general can decide how they engage with that. She was content when she learnt to interpret life like a painting.