Words have an incredible power to facilitate our appreciation and understanding of art, and of what that appreciation/understanding tells us of ourselves, but they can also overwhelm our dialog with art. We must strive not to allow critical language to expand the distance between viewer and art. It best serves to augment our understanding of a piece and of what that piece shows us of ourselves. If it goes beyond that, it does us both – viewer and art – a great disservice.

theory /2007-01-31 by brandon e. heckman/

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