Culture: The Life blood of Art Critique Writing

by: Danielle Masanga, James Laki, and Caitlin Leonillo

Watch, look, observe, deliberate, and write. A process that may not be familiar to an ordinary visitor of a museum, an excited audience member in a theater or cinema, a silent reader sitting in his usual spot at the library, or a common passenger as he listens to the tunes playing in the car; but may be a close job description of what art critics were known to do when faced with a work of art. To the best of a critic’s ability, he or she must be able to draw out a judgement from the framework that he or she chose to formulate their final conclusions for their readers — and even the artists themselves — to either accept or reject. One of the things that critics would take note of are the audiences themselves who were supposedly the intended reactors that artists wished to bring out any reaction to. As Jojo Soria de Veyra, mentioned in his brief talk at Art+ magazine’s Critical Platforms, “isn’t everybody a critic?” (de Veyra 2015). In reading critiques or simply being a part of the audience, however, one may find himself or herself asking the question, “In what ways would my, or any of the audiences’, feedback matter for the serious, objective, and strict writings of an art critic?”

This blog will mainly focus on how the audiences’ play their role in the “world” of art critics and art writing in general. The process of data gathering of this write-up was mainly drawn from an interview with Christian “X” Vallez, a survey of 15 respondents, and insights from other chosen sources which all mediated one theme: culture. This blog aims to prove that one of the crucial elements that shapes an art critic’s writings is the culture that the audiences are immersed in. It defines not only the audience’s way of living, but also the period in which they have certain ‘living’ preferences and dislikes that have affected their judgements and tastes in art that the art critic must either agree or disagree with. This write-up also aims to show how open-minded writers of criticism ought to be in making an overall judgement of an expression of someone rather than seeing works of art merely as an addition to the artworld.

Firstly, every art critic ought to keep in mind that the works of art that they judge, regardless of the period that it was written, composed, painted, or sculpted, was originally intended for the audience to experience when they are faced with it. Most artists, especially those who wished to become part of mainstream or trending art, would want to produce aesthetically pleasing outputs to capture others’ attention and also to make their intended message heard through their outputs — this process, according to de Veyra, is how art ‘survives’ in the media. In Nick Zangwill’s article entitled Art and Audience, he mentioned here that both the artists’ intentions and the audience’s reactions go hand in hand in defining what “art” truly is. It does not only come from how the art itself was made out of, but how it was able to make the audiences’ experiences worthwhile through its valuable properties (Zangwill 1999). Supporting this statement would be Collin Kavanaugh’s article on How to Approach Writing Art Criticism wherein he also recognizes that artists want their audiences to engage themselves in the masterpieces that they encounter. One of the impacts that the artist wanted for their audiences should be encouraging them to discuss amongst themselves on how his/her art was able to connect to them in any way (Kavanaugh 2021). According to Wayne Booth, the output of good criticism originates from what calls the “implied author”, who serves as the author’s second self, which is a constructed role that the reader/audience must take while first reading the text/artwork. It is only while partaking in this role that reader or audience will be able to correctly understand and appreciate the work as a whole. A successful reading is primarily the cause of two things: 1.)a correct identification of the implied reader’s values and beliefs — which are by definition also those of the implied author — and (2) an identification with the implied reader to the extent of “completely agreeing”with his values, then the critic’s task must be not only to show how such identifications are invited by the rhetoric of a given work, but also to explore, in some problematic works, why such identifications may be difficult or even impossible to achieve by an actual reader (Suleiman, 1980). This humane aspect of art of wanting to connect with others is crucial in determining if such an art is worthy to be called as such by the art critic. By learning how to become more open to how the audiences are able to recognize true talent, critics would have another addition to their criteria on how art was able to successfully serve its purpose as an expression or extension of the maker’s life and beliefs.

Secondly, without the culture that exists within a certain period of time, there would neither be surviving trends nor works of art. For a work to have any form of significance, it has to come from the audience’s reaction to it (which can be achieved through the proper order of elements as mentioned in the previous paragraph). This is not only limited to paintings and sculptures alone, but also for the performing arts, literature, and even food art. For critics to know how to properly judge an artwork, they must keep in mind that there is a ‘living’ standard of what art is for the audiences. A survey was conducted to 15 respondents and all agreed that taking the audience’s preferences into consideration is crucial in making an overall judgement of any work of art. Most of them also agreed that although it is important to not equate the value of an art to how the audiences would perceive it to be, it is important nonetheless to acknowledge those who might give additional feedback on how to further improve this practice in the art world. A few respondents even mentioned that art criticism may lead to the development of not only the artist’s skills, but even the evolution of the culture itself that’s being practiced in society.

Finally, this point would be mentioning an interview that was given to Christan “X” Vallez, who is highly experienced in the production of various performing arts (particularly in film and theater). He is a writer and has experience with critiquing works in platforms such as online forums, podcasts, and other platforms. He was asked that when it comes to critiquing artworks, does he critique as an art critic, as part of the audience, or both. He answered that in making an accurate judgement of art, one must experience it as an audience member first. The role of the audience is crucial because art critics were audiences initially. One must first experience the work for himself as well as his emotions towards it. It is after this that one should get to analyze how this caused such an experience. In a sense, being able to experience a work of art as an audience will allow the critic to understand how it was intended to be and how it relates to other audiences.

Culture does not entirely mean solely the likes and dislikes of a certain group of people, it also entails a particular way of seeing things in life through the artworks that were produced in the past and the ones that will be seen in the future. Understanding and reflecting on this notion is also learning how to become more “humanistic” in one’s point of view, that is, to become more open-minded to newer ways of thinking or to be familiar with the ones that are already existing that might better one’s judgement on a topic. Out of all of the elements that the critic can draw out from pure observation of the artwork itself, they should also keep in mind one of the artist’s main intentions of why the art was created a certain way, the ones whose feedback and reactions would determine that it is indeed worthy to be called as such, and those who were initially meant to be a part of this unique experience that only art can give which is the audience themselves.

Sources:

1. de Veyra, Jojo Soria. “Blind and Deaf Men Around an Elephant: On the role of writers, editors, publishers, and the art community in the formation of a living art critical culture.” Diskuro Art Magazine Online (2015). Accessed August 20, 2021. https://www.diskurso.com/2015-11-15-blind-and-deaf-men.html
2. Kavanaugh, Collin. “How to Approach Writing Art Criticism.” The Wheaton College Writing Center Blog. (2021). Accessed August 19, 2021. https://www.wheatoncollegewritingcenterblog.com/how-to-approach-writing-art-criticism/.
3. Zangwill, Nick. “Art and Audience.” <i>The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism</i> 57, no. 3 (1999): 315–32. Accessed August 19, 2021. doi:10.2307/432197.
4. Suleiman, Susan. “The Reader in the Text: Essays on Audience and Interpretation.” Princeton University Press (1980). Accessed August 19, 2021. https://b-ok.asia/book/2884464/2b7a02