Art and The Traveller.

An art gallery is like a foregin country. You enter, sometimes with some background knowledge, you experience, you leave. If you thought it was amazing, you might visit again, might tell your friends. If you thought it was awful you tell your friends not to go and you have no intention of returning. The basic motions in both situations are the same. Think about it. But what do an art gallery and a foregin country have in common you may ask? Lots! At first when I made this comparison I didn't think there was much to it, but the more I thought about it the more I discovered. I will try to explain...

You travel to a gallery to see exhibition Y. You have some basic knowlege, the artists name, the medium they work in, but nothing too in depth. Once at Exhibition Y you are now in the artists world. Like a traveller you pause, absorb, interpret, ponder and form views on what you are seeing. Eventually you leave, with the information you have accumulated and make a decision as to whether you liked it or not.

Regardless of what you thought of the exhibition there is one similarity between the gallery visitor and the traveller that stands out to me. As a traveller you enter a foregin country or place, one which is not your own. You may like it, you may not, but regardless there is still a level of respect that is present as you are in a place other than your own. Things may work differently than at home but that is the way things work in the place you have visited. This respect is just as present in an Art Gallery. When looking at the works displayed you have a level of respect for the work and for the maker, regardless of you opinion of the piece. Even if you hate a piece you still acknowlege that its maker has put time and effort into its production. You may not see it as amazing but others might. You are respectful that there will be differing opinions on a single work.

This comparison has been re-occuring over the last couple of days. We have seen so many exhibitions and works, many of which I have loved but also many which I have not liked. Although I may have disliked a piece I can still appreciate it as I know that someone else may love it. 

Hannah