Depths: The Most Important Question You Can Ask

Appreciating art pt. 1

My Hands Are My Heart (1991)
by Gabriel Orozco

Before I get to the most important question, I’m going to need you to bear with me for a few moments. Let the mystery percolate in your mind. Some of you may already be asking a different question, “How do I even begin to look at art?” Deciding on a methodology is a good starting point. Methodology is the structure or rules behind “how” you do something.¹ If you build houses, most likely your methodology is not to start with the roof and work your way down, rather it is to start from the ground and work up. But if you wash cars for a living you probably do start at the top and work your way down.

In academic fields methodologies are often defined in a similar manner as with the contractor or car washer. Art is a broad field though. It’s not so much like building a house, it’s more like building anything. Or washing anything, not simply cars. Which means the methodologies are often nearly as plentiful as the number of artworks that exist.

Let’s take the metaphor a bit further, think of it this way: in order to wash something we have to examine and ask a few questions. What is it and what needs to be cleaned off of it? It’s a steel skillet, upon which I’ve burned my ribeye–ruining the steak. Now I have to ask what is the best course of action to clean it? One option is to soak it in the sink and hope a roommate or spouse has to use it before it has “soaked long enough.” I call this the Soak-and-Hope method of dish washing. It is effective at ruining pans and relationships. However, this methodology is not effective when applied to cleaning other objects, such as an automobile. Unless you are willing to park your car in a pond.

Art viewing methodologies are like that. You have to ascertain the right approach by asking a series of questions: