THE MIND’S EYE
What influences your interpretation of an abstract work of art – what you “see” in the artwork? Does what you see in an abstract artwork say something about you?
There is much speculation in this regard, and in a way it could be said that psychology blends with art theory and criticism here.
You may have heard of the famous Rorschach Inkblot test , where a person is shown a series of ink blots, and is asked what they see in the inkblots – that is, what they interpret the inkblots as being. From their interpretations of the inkblot images, certain psychological evaluations regarding the person are then made.
If you ever take a class in art theory and criticism, you will learn all kinds of fancy theories explaining how art is interpreted. However, if you do not have the time to go through all that, just keep the old familiar maxim in mind:
Beauty is in the Eye (and Mind) of the Beholder.
Artistic Viewpoint in the Mind's Eye
TAKE AN ART TEST–
Wanna take a little “Art Test”? (There are no Right or Wrong answers, of course.)
The following series of images is obtained by taking an abstract painting and rotating it, 90 degrees at a time.
What do you see in each image?
What title would you give each image?
LET’S START WITH THIS:
What do you see in the picture? What title would you give it?
ROTATE IT:
What do you see in the picture? What title would you give it?
ROTATE IT:
What do you see in the picture? What title would you give it?
ROTATE IT:
What do you see in the picture? What title would you give it?