How to Talk About Art so You Don’t Sound Stupid
Jerry Saltz, New York Magazine’s leading art critic and author of How to Become an Artist , is n’t pretentious when it comes to art.
Its main goal is to make everyone think, react and work in order to show their best side. If that means saying something that comes to mind when you look at the painting, then go ahead and do it — and if you’re still scared, Jerry might just call you “big kid.”
He says the easiest way to get into art is to see as much as possible. You don’t need an art history degree to put things in a broader context, just focus on your initial instinctual responses. And if you have any problems with the attitude to the work at all, he advises to think about what you would like if you were the kind of people who really like it . Maybe the color is not to your taste, but you understand why people can react to it; it may be too minimal and someone might like this aspect. By trying to put yourself in the shoes of other critics, you open your mind to share their experiences.
What about abstract art? Try to think of how the item was made and when it was made as a starting point for saying something, rather than “my kindergarten could draw this.”