I could never understand art?why is that so?

Breaking down your question into different parts, you seem to be asking the following:

1. Why people cry over a piece of art

2. How people can appreciate art and pick up what is good/great/bad

3. All art are the same- they give me no feelings

4. Why some people can feel so much

Which can be summarized into 2 main questions

1.What is art?

2.How can I appreciate art?

I don’t think you’re looking into a epistemological discussion on what art is, but essentially art is a form of expression and a way to make sense of the world. Often, art gives us a way to look into the zeitgeist, because it’s a response to society/the environment. Using art, historians can tell what a society was like, their culture, their beliefs and ideals. Before cameras were invented, paintings were also used as a form of documentation. Paintings can reveal an entire social landscape! But anyway, I’m assuming that you’re talking about contemporary visual arts (since you talked about paintings)- if not, there’s really too much to explain… there are many different art forms (music, dance, visual arts, performance arts, film, literature, etc) and it spans across thousands of years!

A lot of people talk about contemporary art – specifically performance/installation/conceptual/abstract art – and think that ‘famous artists get out of bed and then turn their bed into a gallery’ and call it art. But its often much more complicated than that. Artists create because they want to express something, an idea, an issue, a concern that they feel for, which they feel is best expressed in another form other than words (e.g. writing a research paper on it, or a book, or a film). But art is subjective and this attempt at expression is not meant to be a neutral/objective one that science goes for, the artist’s perspective is key and central so they may or may not be successful at expressing their perspective.

Furthermore, the audience also plays a key role in the success of the artist. You, as viewer, decide how much you want to put in, and take out from a piece. When you view a work, you are participating in a ‘dialogue’ with the artist, and appreciating a work requires a lot of work on the audience’s part. If you just look at it for a few seconds, seeing if you like the colours and then moving on, chances are you won’t get the emotional connection that another person, who has invested lots of time and effort in the artists’ work, gets. It’s not that the person is ‘more emotional’; they just feel for it because they’re looking at it from an informed place.

Chances are, that person has done their research on the art work, s/he has read up on the artists’ background, why this piece was created, against what backdrop was this made, and where this piece is in the timeline of art. Most people who have no interest in art don’t go to such lengths and so dismiss art as ridiculous- but a lot of art only makes sense/is great when you understand the context.

So how do some people know what good art is? Different people have different ways of measuring it- some people just like art that looks good aesthetically, some like art because of the concept (e.g. minimalism, Robert Ryman) rather than the aesthetic/skill. Others just want something to decorate their homes with!

That’s all valid, and makes the art world so large and fascinating. Art is everywhere really so don’t say that you don’t get anything. We like things to be well designed and look good, and we are attracted to beauty, so art is everywhere!!

Ok, but I guess you’re talking about going to the museum/galleries/exhibitions and trying to appreciate art, how do you begin to do so?

1. Do some research on basic art history, try to understand the context

2. Slow down when you look at a piece, don’t rush through the entire exhibition checking off things ‘to-see’ like a to-do list. Most people spend less than 10 seconds looking at a work! The artist spent months/years making it- take time to look for details, look at it from different angles, see what it makes you think about/feel. Decide why you like certain elements and not others.

3. Read up on the artist and the work- does s/he often talk about issues of race? Or war? Or sexuality? Then frame the work in that context and see what new perspectives the artist offers.

4. Ask questions! But don’t worry if you don’t get an answer, be open to perspectives and ask that ‘emotional’ friend why s/he burst into tears. What did the painting evoke?

At the end of the day, you’re going to get what you put in. There are bound of be pretentious twats in the art world, but it doesn’t make the art world fluff.. give it a shot, and if you don’t like contemporary art, theres a lot more to explore! I hope this helps and sorry if this is so confusing/messy ☺

It depends on what kind of art you're referring to. There are the old painting that really mean nothing to us, there are those that symbolize something, there's also fan art, etc.

Possible reasons:

Fan art can be really sad sometimes when people draw some heart breaking scene or something.

Symbolic art can represent some horrible truth that we can't avoid but is there. People may be going through something and the art reminds them of it.

The old paintings...people get emotional with the beauty that they cannot compare to.

Great pictures should not only look good, it's supposed to represent what the artist wishes to impart to the viewers. The viewers sense some things in the pictures.

I don't get emotional over art much either. Maybe bc our perception skills are not as strong as others? Could be that we're not thinking deep enough...

Art.

: something that is created with imagination and skill and that is beautiful or that expresses important ideas or feelings

: works created by artists : paintings, sculptures, etc., that are created to be beautiful or to express important ideas or feelings

: the methods and skills used for painting, sculpting, drawing, etc.

That is the definition of art, though, art is unexplainable.

There is no true definition of art, it can be many things. Some people get emotional over art because it reminds them of something heartwarming, sad, etc.

As to why you feel nothing about art is something you'll have to find out yourself.

I hope this helped!

Me neither. It makes so sense that famous arists get out of bed and then take their bed into a gallery because it's so called 'a work of art.' I agree, Yuchi x