I know something about art, but I know what I like anyway

Usually, looking at a painting, I think, hmm, okay, I wish I could do that, but once in a while I go whooaaa.... wow.... that's... wow...

Not unlike with a great musical performance.

So now, I'm suddenly, inadvertently, a person who writes about art.

I've noticed that people who write about music, especially popular music, tend to love music a lot; but people who write about art, sometimes give off the impression that they don't care, or they don't even get it.

My problem is that I know what I love but I don't know why. But is that really a problem?

I certainly don't have an overarching theory. Why should I? What makes great reggae and what makes great blues and what makes great jazz are different. I know what I want to listen to and what I don't when I hear it.

I also know what I want to look at when I see it. But I don't have or want some grand theory as to why.

I think basically everyone loves music but only some people love visual art for some reason.

Since everyone loves music, everyone who writes about music loves it. On the other hand, NOT all of the people who write about art are people who love it.

I know what I love in art, just as I know what I love in music. And I know a fair amount at least about art (and perhaps a bit less but still something about music). But I can't explain WHY I like what I like in some broad general terms.

You enjoy each bit of human creativity in its own terms.

I think anyone writing about art has to BEGIN by acknowledging the mystery. We love this stuff. We LOVE this stuff. Why? It's sort of mysterious.

We especially love SOME of this stuff. Which ones? Why?

It's totally experiential. In experiencing any art form, either your socks are knocked off, or they ain't.

If you have a talky personality you really WANT to talk about the stuff you love and what it means to you. And you don't so much want to talk about the stuff you don't love, except maybe to wonder why it didn't work.

But you wouldn't know it from a lot of people who are professional curators and art educators. They seem to have forgotten what they love about art, if there ever was anything.

Anyway, sometimes, the only thing you can say is wow... look at that...

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painting is a field sketch by Tom Thomson ca 1916