Lack of art appreciation

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I don't understand art. I've really tried to, but I just can't appreciate it. I've been to heaps of art museums because my friends were into it, but I was bored stiff at all of them. I feel like I'm missing out on something, because art's said to be such an important aspect of humanity.

Is there some sort of art that I might be interested in? I've done a bit of study into different art movements, so I'm a little familiar with art terminology.

i was having this discussion in another chat forum.
i dont get art and thought all aspies were the same but i was worng, a lot of aspies get art, alot of them are good at it.

i went to the tate art gellery in london last week and looked at the painting and scultutres.
to me they were just that, paintings and sculptures........then i took a guided tour and then i saw the art,
without the guide explaining stuff to me i was lost, like you, i am aspie byt he way.
but when she explained stuff, i saw it there straight away and it was good, i was seeing art, but only through someone elses eyes and that was good enough for me..like emotions can see them only when its pointed out to me.

i always gravitate toward museums and art galleries but like you i need to be shown i dont get it, but i accept it.

hope this helps

I kind of get art.

It's something that's very broad. I mean first off you need to define art. But that's something totally different, so I'll just focus on what is traditionally considered art. (Though I have no idea what defines that either)


First up. Not all Art has meaning.

Second, sometimes it will be said that there is a meaning that wasn't there, or it was misunderstood.

Third, frequently, the artist wants you to take your own meaning from it.


I'm a big fan of Salvidore Dali. Surrealism is in my opinion the best art movement The guy represented sexual frustration with Ants. That is pretty frick'n cool.

I suspect a lot of people within art will deny it, but much of what is art is probably on the 'rational' side of the brain (I don't know if that's left or right)

Some art is very concrete, and some of it is not. Things like paintings of cities or landscapes ... that's real easy to distinguish. If there is some hidden meaning, I am lost, therefore most art does not do it for me. Even if I am told, there are times I still can't make the meaning out between what was said and what it has to do with the picture.

In terms of art expression, I tend to favor surrealist landscapes. I sort of am mesmerized by the desolation and mysterious appeal that it brings out, but still ... if there is some hidden appeal, then I tend not to get it. I tend to look at the quality of the landscapes that are drawn. I tend to like photographs on my wall than art, however.

- Ray M -

i am only 16 , i am going to art college and intend on being an artist i am also an aspie and at school i was picked out for having a gift and talent in it.
in my opinion your not meant to "get art" because there is nothing to "get" most of the time the artist is expressing there opinions or feelings towards something, but in a very visual way.
because it is in a very visual way, that means it can be interpreted in number of different ways.
some art is just there to make you think what a great drawer or sculpturer!

in my experience, what makes going to an art gallery, such as the tate modern or saachi, in london, which i have been to , a great experience is thinking about how the hell the artist came up with the idea, what magical thoughtsa nd emotions did they go through to get these ideas and have the god given gift to do it and also i always think pieces of art that are truly amazing are the ones that make me think " not in a million years could i come up with that idea" or " i could never paint a picture of a person and catch such emotion in there faces"

i also think that the secret behind looking at art , in mt opiniin is
1) making your own interpretation of your own and if you can't , then you can't

2) look at the details

remember that not many people get art, i don't , but i still love it and want to be an artist.
most artists don't get it either , it just about creating something.

art is like the mystery behind the creation of the universe.
some people have absolute faith that God made it, this one interpretation
and some people either belive it was science or have ther own ideas this is another one
the only difference between the reasons of the universe and art is that there are artists here to explain there creations but there is no God to explain his....

sorry for going but having AS and art being one of my obsessions...i tend to go on..

me xx

I get some art, but I don't get dance at all, so perhaps it evens out.

On art, even if explained, some categories do little for me.
Most portraits, most landscapes and Constable...

But there is so much art out there. From cave paintings to video installations...
And it isn't just feeling. Briefing and knowledge helps a lot.

Amongst the classics, I do have a taste for J M W Turner.
Not quite an impressionaist, or a surrealist, or a simple landscape-portrayer.

And Dali and Magritte, for being thought provoking and yet amusing

M C Escher for being orderly and surreal.

Some of the op-art era... (Start with Bridget Riley?)

And then I move on to cartoonists, artists in their own way, and my particular favourite Rowland Emett, who moved on to animated sculptures...


Sometimes just looking will produce an effect... The subjective response.
Then there's knowing about the artist, and what he might be trying to express.
(How many people mis-read Munch's "Scream"?)
Formal codings and techniques.
The connections with history: events and people.

Abstract art is nice though I might make clear the differenciation of abstract realism as not my featured interest..

Enigmatic: hmm do you like modern or not so modern art?

XIUAN said something very important: not all art has a meaning.



Art always says something in 3 levels: Semantic, Syntactic and Pragmatic.

Semantic level - we relate it to our reality. If it is highly semantic we don't understand it, it is has a low semantic level we know what it is, we understand it.

Syntactic level - This is when art "gets" you. This is where the elements and the order in it communicates something to you.

Pragmatic level - A level that makes a reaction in you, an emotion.



Sometimes art has a very low syntactic level, and that's when you see some art work and find it boring.

other times we don't understand a single thing, but it hits you.

so art varies a lot

I really adore some art--such as that of the dark and gothic variety--and I think of films, one of my major obsessions, as art. However, some other people can look at something I see as dull and lackluster and think it brilliant. I'm not particularly into a lot of classic art, be it Impressionistic or Baroque, or the art that's in museums, but I love the art that can be found at, say, CGSociety. Heh. So it's possible you just haven't seen the type of art that you like.

i dont get art either.... i went to a museam a whle ago with school but whilst everyone else jujst about was exited about it and when they got there would stgand there for a long time at each picture.. i would look at one pictute for about 30 seconds to a minute, then move on. i never appreciate it, unless either myself has done it, or somebody else has done it that ive seen doing it.

Yeah, this is what I pretty much have done in the past. Most art I've seen has just bored me to tears, and so I just move on once I've seen it.

I know that art doesn't necessarily have a meaning, but I assume it's meant to have some sort of effect. I've yet to see anything in an art museum that affects me. The only thing I've been able to consistently appreciate in art is technical merit. If I see something that I know took a lot of time, effort and skill to make then I can appreciate that.

On another note, I can appreciate literature and films, which are art. Perhaps paintings, sculptures, and poetry just aren't my thing.

electronic_performer: Most of the art I've seen could be called contemporary.