Critiquing Art is Always a Mistake
The new MLK Jr. memorial statue on the Boston Common called “The Embrace.” – Lane Turner / The Boston Globe, File
By Shawn B
So they couldn’t afford the heads? Would’ve been better with the heads.
I guess I should start by qualifying that I’m no connoisseur of the arts. Sorry, that part of my brain is just not properly activated, so I can’t make heads or tails of this installation – “The Embrace”. I saw a bunch of people critiquing on Reddit, with passionate agreements and disagreements – as expected. But why?
Critiquing is no more than communicating one’s opinion, which is categorically unequal to conveying a statement of fact. The real mistake is mistaking opinion for fact. One’s opinion is never wrong if believed to be true by the originator.
In my case, I most certainly believe the full picture is more comprehensible, however, I’m an ordinary person unskilled in interpretive art. So while I’m not factually asserting it’s better with the heads, I’m subjectively saying it is. And there’s no mistake in my belief.
This also presents the quandary: where does the opinion of the creator end and the opinion of the viewer begin? Should we be viewing this in the eyes of the artist or in our own interpretation of his/her work? If the artist, how can we even presume to know his/her thoughts?
Of course we can’t. In my opinion, the opinion should be our own, and hence in our beliefs of our own truths, we can never be mistaken. Unless you are of the persuasion that you can believe something and not believe the same thing at the same time – a nonsense position to hold – one can never be mistaken when critiquing art.
P.s. I saw this meme and thought it was funny.
