Mirror, mirror on the wall

Viewing contemporary art is never about merely observing art. The artistic experience is coloured by the mood, conceptions, and knowledge of the viewer. When going to a museum of contemporary art, visitors have preconceptions about the exhibitions and artworks they are about to see. Sometimes the visitors may drift into the museum a little unsure of what will happen - contemporary art is typically considered to be challenging for the viewer.

Facing the image

At first glance, we take in a work of art as a whole. We observe its shape, size, and colours. Examining its surface reveals various details, such as the material of which it consists and the subject matter. The eye actively seeks recognisable forms and possibly written words. We try and interpret whether the piece tells a story or whether the composition on the painting's surface remains a group of non-figurative shapes.

Visual art is not sensed only through the eyes; the sensory experience is always more complex. Contemporary art often incorporates sound, and sometimes even smells. The artwork may rouse the sense of touch, even if we don't touch it. We don't need to touch the rough surface of a painting or the smooth surface of a photograph to know how they feel. The information we receive through our senses is always related to our previous knowledge, feelings, and experiences.

We try to understand the language of a work of art by comparing the elements we can identify in it against the meanings we have previously learnt, and the expectations we have for it. In practice, our vision complements a flawed set of information: when perceiving depth on a two-dimensional surface, we are really only seeing a composition created on a canvas.

Whenever a work of art features human figures, the viewer is more likely to feel closer to it. Julian Schnabel, for example, has painted portraits of his family members. In the mind of the viewer, the brush strokes on the surface of these paintings form human figures, although the objects are distorted in their proportions and colouring. In other words, instead of portraying the figures as they would appear in reality, he has portrayed them the way he wanted to. What we see on the canvas is how the artist sees and depicts things through his own idiom. Such an idiom may be easily understandable to a viewer, but also, if seen for the first time, strange and distant.

Near and far, in and out

Sometimes a work of art will set unwritten rules as to how it ought to be viewed. For example, Hanna Haaslahti's White Square requires the viewer to become part of a computer-based shadow game. The viewer's body becomes part of the work and is, in fact, elemental to its function. A work of art can draw viewers closer or it can push them away.  Anu Tuominen's minute work Mittausopin alkeita (The Basics of Geometry) has to be viewed from a very close distance to fully appreciate the detail and precision of measurements.  With other works, the viewer is all but forced to step back, to be able to form any kind of comprehensive view of the whole. The gigantic size of Julian Schnabel's paintings can be an overwhelming experience, and they seem to swallow the viewer inside them, if viewed from too close a distance.

Works may also deliberately play around with distance and make viewers conscious of their personal observation process. In Sami Lukkarinen's work, when viewed from far away, the image he has picked out from the IRC Gallery appears to portray a man showing off his body, but from closer up, the image breaks down into a series of small squares forming a colourful and complex, yet regular, whole.

Desperately seeking meaning

Sometimes the feelings art produces are difficult to put into words. Art can trigger an unexpected mood, sensation, or physical reaction - or just hints of these. As weak signals, associations and images may go completely unnoticed, unless the viewer allows enough time to concentrate on and listen to his or her own thoughts, reactions, and experiences.

Sometimes avoiding figurativeness may have been the idea of the whole artwork. Sometimes the key to interpretation is in the name of the piece. In general, using words is a strong tool for steering the interpretation of a work of art. Words seem to have more consolidated meanings than images, which may be sending multiple messages. In visual art, words are, however, always just a part of the work; the image is not there to illustrate words; the image speaks for itself. A work may be seen to contain a composition of letters, asking the viewer to take onboard a certain line of thought. The words are there to lure the viewer and the result is the association the artist sought after.

The idiom of contemporary art is diverse and often characterised by its intention to confuse and mix previously familiar ways of reading imagery. The traditional aim of art, the striving towards beauty, may be secondary or irrelevant to the message a contemporary artist wants to communicate. This is the case, for example, when looking at Nan Goldin's photographs. The pictures portray ordinary people in everyday situations. They seem like snapshots that could be found in anyone's home album. But when put on display at a museum, framed and hanging on the wall, they will be interpreted through the idiom of contemporary art. This does not mean that the images are above the mundane, but rather that they freeze moments of everyday life to be observed, in the name of art.

Listen to pictures, see yourself

The world we live in today is flooded with images. Our eyes have learnt to sift through them very quickly. A deeper understanding of the visual arts, however, requires that we stop and consider the images we see. A work of art could be approached like a new acquaintance, someone with whom to engage in dialogue, so that we get to know that person better. Works of art offer visual hints and food for thought, from which viewers can pick out the most familiar elements, and use these to start the thinking process. How and when we arrive at the final conclusion about the artwork is up to each viewer. Sometimes works of art can remain mysteries.

Viewers of contemporary art will reflect their own experiences, attitudes, and ways of observing their environment on the artworks they encounter. Looking and seeing involve emotions and sensations which are unique to each individual viewer. In other words, "understanding" a work of art is essentially about listening to one's own thoughts and mental processes.  In this respect, art and interpreting art is like looking into a mirror.

-Päivi Matala