Thursday, April 17, 2008

Interview With BFA Undergrad Samantha


The following interview was conducted with Samantha, a BFA undergraduate student at the University of Arizona who is majoring in Studio Art and Art Education. The questions asked were meant to elicit her opinion with regards to the many controversial issues touched on in Sontag's quote. This interview is also meant to provide the reader with a more informed opinion on interpretation in the real world as opposed to those generated theoretically by individuals unfamiliar with art.

Q: What do you ‘mean’ when you create your art?
A: I usually don’t really have any big meaning in my pieces, unless I am assigned to in class. I mostly like to do portraiture and landscapes which are more focused on aesthetics rather than meaning.

Q: How do you feel about interpretation in general?
A: I believe the viewer can interpret a piece however they want. Even if the artist meant something specific in the piece, only half of the viewers might see it that way. The rest would see something else. The artist shouldn’t expect the viewer to get the intended meaning since viewers tend to apply pieces to themselves to get something else out of it.

Q: How do you feel about interpretation of your work?
A: I don’t usually put meaning into my work but I think it is good if someone can apply a meaning for themselves to get something out of it. I don’t expect them to, though.

Q: You mention ‘getting something out of’ a piece of artwork. What do you mean by this?
A: It speaks to you in some way. This might be an emotion or a new idea. Or it might make you think of something you haven’t thought of before.

Q: How would you feel if someone interpreted your work ‘wrong’, i.e. applied an interpretation to your work that was not the intended one?
A: I wouldn’t want my piece to offend anyone if they took it the wrong way, but if they are just finding a new possible meaning then I wouldn’t care.

Q: Would you feel any different if it was another person’s piece that was being ‘wrongly’ interpreted?
A: I wouldn’t think that it was wrong to do so.

Q: How do you feel about abstract art and its interpretation?
A: I think abstract art is good if it is obvious that the artist put a lot of time, effort, and thought into a piece. But I don’t like abstract art that looks as if it took ten minutes to create and the artist inserted some deep meaning onto the piece after the fact. I don’t think this type of person should be recognized as a true artist. The point of abstract art is to be non-objective so the viewer needs to be told the meaning behind the work in order to understand the piece or get something out of it. Some abstract art is just pretty, or solely about aesthetics. In most, the meaning is more significant to the whole piece than the piece itself (its content and form).

Q: Do you feel there is a relationship between content and form?
A: Yes, because you would paint your home differently than you would paint a haunted house. You would use different brushstrokes, lighting, color, shading, etc. for each piece.

Q: How would you feel about being compared to another artist?
A: If I didn’t like their work I would find it interesting. If I thought their work was amazing then I would take it as a compliment. It is hard not to have your work remind the viewer of someone else’s, even though many artists try to be completely unique and so would find any comparison insulting.

Q: Why is it hard not to have your work remind the viewer of someone else’s?
A: Because art has been going on for quite a while. This might only be true for people who are familiar with a wide range of artists and their work. It is hard to come up with something completely new and different in terms of subject and style.

So, in summary, this interviewee did not see any wrong with interpretation. This could be due to the fact that it is extremely prevalent in the artistic world and therefore can easily be seen as commonplace or 'normal' in this setting. It must be taken into consideration, however, that this particular artist does not normally engage in creating artwork that is prone to interpretation. Instead, she tends to create true-to-life images in which it is obvious there is no hidden meaning. In other words, her works are concerned more with reality rather than creativity.

The following are a few examples of this artists recent work:



As can clearly be seen, these pieces are exactly what they appear to be at face value: people, objects, and scenery. There is no hidden meaning behind these, nor is the viewer expected to look for one.



These pieces could seem to some as if they have a possible meaning behind them, but the artist herself has acknowledged that each was drawn either completely or partially from reality, with minimal creative license.

This comparison is meant to show the drawbacks of interpreting a piece of artwork. If you want to see some other examples of local artists who are in opposition to Sontag's overall message that interpretation lessens a piece of artwork, see the posts concerning Gary Setzer and others.