Collage/Print/Drawing: May Be True, But It Might Be False & The Meaning Of...Meaning In Art

RTomens, 2019

I tried to be clever, once. It didn't work. I'm all for self-improvement, intellect-wise, but staring at the books on the Philosophy shelf in a charity shop the other day the names on the spines taunted me: "Heidegger", "Kant", "Deleuze" - "Try us if you dare!" they screamed. I didn't, but I kid myself that I can/might one day. I fear, though, that I'd end up like Tony Hancock in the sketch where he's on his bed reading Bertrand Russell and having to reach for the dictionary every few lines before giving up. 

What irks me is knowing that I'd understand most of the words, but not necessarily what they mean when joined up! Ideas can be challenging, can't they? I mean, complex ideas in writing. 

I was going to say 'meaning plagues art' but, you know what? There is no 'art'. Art is so varied that one word doesn't cover it. Sorry to state the obvious but I'm trying to get things clear in my own head. Admittedly, I should do so before posting but...call me crazy...and spontaneous! 

There's The Art World (moneyed, status-seeking etc) and the rest, the majority. I enjoy books on art though, of course. I'm thinking of Tom Wolfe's The Painted Word, which I read years ago. As I recall, he was nailing the descriptive notice phenomenon and all the talk, talk, talk about art becoming as important as the art itself. Well, we've all stared dumbfounded at a conceptual piece and needed the blurb to help us get it, haven't we? I don't have a problem with that.

Now I'm thinking of abstract art, meaning, bemusement on behalf of the layperson etc in relation to my own work (and the long historical 100-year-plus trail)...and how a piece can contain recognisable images yet still be baffling. Confession: I'm guilty of never (or rarely) helping viewers, but then, I rarely (if ever) know what they 'mean' anyway. 

Meanings...so we're back to all those separately understandable words compiled into sentences, the meaning of which can be elusive. And their equivalent in art. I might have answers for you...if I actually bought one of those books...