October Entry 1 - Who creates or determines meaning for an artwork? Is it the artist, audience, or both?

 

Who creates or determines meaning for an artwork? Is it the artist, audience, or both?

Art is a very subjective AOK. It has a very wide scope, and we literally in terms cannot define art. Generally art is used to express and convey different meanings and emotions which make the audience question statements about art. However when we come up with vague definitions for artwork, we do it based on the artists work and the opinion of the audience.

So both people play a very important role in defining art. It is an artist’s job to convey their desired meaning through their art; however it is the audience’s job to understand the art in their own way. Both people could have a very different perspective. These perspectives can help us give a meaning to art and how it affects people’s emotions and thinking.

For example take a stylist and a carpenter. The stylist goes to a shop, buys a wooden statue and places it in your shelf. A carpenter builds you a statue out of wood and places it on your shelf. Now when you look at both of the sculptures, both of them would seem aesthetic and pleasing. Now if u were to find out how they arrived on your shelf then you would question the methods and derive the fact that the carpenter did proper art and the stylist did not do anything.

However that is where there is a diverse opinion and people start to question whether that can be considered art. It actually is art, because the stylist has used their brain to visualize and come up with something that would suit your environment, and gone and tracked it down then bought it. So even that thinking skill is a creative aspect and all leads to a form of art called readymade art. Now the sculpture is readymade. However it is the stylists choice on where to place it, or what to do with it. That can make all the difference.

Hence both people are expressing their thoughts through their own form of art. So it lies in the audience’s hands on how they want to interpret and understand an artist’s work, but it is an artist’s work to make sure they convey their meaning through their artwork. So both play a role in defining art here.