Rosalie Gascoigne and Helen Drutt-English

Today we didn't do as many gallery visits as yesterday but there still things that were really informative. The first started at the book launch for Helen Britton. It was here that the lady who gave the opening speech-Helen Drutt-English said something that stayed for me for the rest of the day. It had been a quote by Rosalie Gascoigne who said that a piece didn't have to have a back story for the work to be relevant, that it was just as important for the viewer to have an empathetic response to a work. And it got me thinking to other things. Here is what I wrote at the Rathaus when we visited another exhibition.

Must you always know what a work is about? Can you not feel something from just observing and letting your own education and personal history inform your decision on a work? What is more important-the feeling of empathy or having that gut instinct that says that this is it, this resonates with me on a scale that no other work can? Does writing about the piece also constitute as part of the art work (See picture to understand this next bit) because I'm using a beautiful pen or do the words themselves have a greater importance? And also how to balance this in a way that it can become part of the work that I create. For words are but lines on a page, some heavily drawn some softly drawn, just as a drawing would be executed.
I'm not sure if this makes sense but it is what I've pondering since I read Hannah's blog and from this morning.

  Clare