Art industry

Why Does Art Have to Whisper in a Museum Voice?

I have noticed something about the art world. The second a painting goes on a wall, everybody starts talking like they are afraid the wallpaper has a law degree.

Suddenly a perfectly nice picture of flowers is not a picture of flowers. It is "an inquiry into memory, fragility, and the burden of light." That may be true. It may also be sunflowers, and sunflowers are doing just fine without a graduate seminar standing next to them holding a cheese cube.

I am not against serious art. Some work should stop you in your tracks. Some work should make you think about life, death, love, God, traffic, or why you ever bought white furniture. But I do think artists can get carried away trying to sound important. The painting either connects or it does not. No paragraph in a black turtleneck can save it.

Humor does not cheapen the work

A little wit can make art more approachable. It tells the buyer they are allowed to relax. They can look at the piece, enjoy the color, laugh at the description, and still take the work home because it means something to them.

That is the mood I want for The Art Explorer. The artwork is real. The prints are real. The buying process should be clear. But the descriptions do not need to act like they were discovered in a cave by monks with excellent lighting.

Let people like what they like

The best art buying advice is not complicated: if you keep looking at it, there is probably a reason. Maybe it reminds you of somewhere. Maybe it makes the room feel better. Maybe it makes you laugh. Maybe you just like purple because Prince existed, and that is enough for me.

Art can have meaning without making the buyer pass a vocabulary test. Put another way: if the piece belongs on your wall, it does not need to whisper. It can speak in a normal voice.