Robert Henri- At Far Rockaway
The man who has honesty, integrity, the love of inquiry, the desire to see beyond, is ready to appreciate good art. He needs no one to give him an ‘Art Education’; he is already qualified. He needs but to see pictures with his active mind, look into them for the things that belong to him, and he will find soon enough in himself an art connoisseur and an art lover of the first order.
-Robert Henri
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A lot of people over the years have made my work their first art purchase which pleases me greatly because I know how difficult it is to make that first decision to spend hard-earned money on a piece of art. It is tremendously gratifying to me as an artist to have that person find something in the work that belongs to them that allows them to overcome the fear of buying art.
And there is a fear in buying art. Or even showing one’s appreciation of it.
I hear it all the time from people who come up to me in galleries and say that they know nothing about art, some who are very powerful people who move through the world with a supreme air of confidence about them. They are often afraid of making a mistake that will reveal their lack of knowledge about art.
My first response is to tell them that they don’t have to know anything about art. They don’t need a wide knowledge of art history or contemporary art. They only need to first trust their eyes and their emotional response to a piece of work. No amount of persuasion can make you like those things that don’t stir your emotions.
Ultimately, you like what you like– work that speaks to who you are at your core. And that is the first requirement and rule for any lover of art, whether you collect or simply enjoy taking in the images when you come across them.
Redtree Times 
I so much appreciate your point of view. I’ve gotten into some discussions about modern music where the phrase, “I don’t know much about music, but I know what I like” is ridiculed as being the signature phrase of the rube or the great unwashed.
That doesn’t mean that understanding isn’t important, or that it can’t develop over time. My first opinion of the Rothko Chapel here in Houston wasn’t the opinion I hold now. But it took bumping into some Rothko pieces that I did like to move me along the path toward understanding and deeper appreciation of his entire corpus.
Anyone who’s tried to get a five-year-old to try different veggies knows the rule: don’t force the Brussels sprouts. Start with what the kid likes, and offer little tastes of other things along the way. If he ends up as a Brussels sprouts hating adult, it’s not a moral failure. It’s just a personal preference.
Yeah, I’ve heard those comments about that phrase as well. I don’t give that opinion much weight in the grand scheme of things as art is purely subjective. There are pieces of art and music that are almost universally hailed as masterpieces that do absolutely nothing for me. I may recognize the craftsmanship, the meaning behind them and objective beauty in them but they leave me emotionally cold. I just don’t like this work and never will, despite all the experts and esoteric snobs who tell me that I should. As you say, it is personal preference– what you are looking for in the work–that comes into play.
But sometimes there is work that, like you with the Rothkos, doesn’t strike me immediately but intrigues me in some way. It holds something that hasn’t immediately spoken to me but, instead, whispers softly. This work grows on me and sometimes becomes work that I appreciate greatly. For instance, I was never a big Picasso fan out of hand but much of his work intrigued me and over time I have come to really respect and appreciate it, establishing emotional contact with some pieces. You could even say that I like it.
That is the beauty of the gray areas of art–nothing is absolutely right or wrong for everyone.
On Thu, Jan 29, 2015 at 8:47 AM, Redtree Times wrote:
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I agree, though quality obviously shines through; your work for example.