Perception

In my class this week we are having a discussion on perception of the artwork/piece and how viewers react to work. Here is my contribution:

I think my imagery grabs peoples attention within the first few moments they see it, however I keep getting people questioning whether or not it is art. I have not shown many people my thesis work, so these comments came mostly in response to my NYC @ night stuff. The last 4 months or so of last year and the first month and a half of this year I had my work up on a pretty regular basis here in New Rochelle, in Chelsea in Manhattan, and Harlem. I think people look at me, and then question whether or not it is art. I do not dress crazy, I am no longer all pierced up, I am always nice and gracious when I meet people, but I find dialogue about my work to be tedious. I often feel socially awkward and hate public speaking.. I am learning to get over that, but somewhere I am not being artsy enough or something. The reasons I shoot are wrapped around the notions of death, global warming, apocalypse, cruelty of time, beauty of now, questions of reality, science and philosophy, and scary world news stories etc etc. I often feel odd engaging people in this level of conversation. I am socially uncomfortable sharing that side of myself in public. So I think people think I am just shooting pretty colors.
I took an anthropology course here at AAU, and I remember an essay where a woman recounted the friendly empty American social interactions. We are polite on the surface, but the meanings of our words and the meanings of our interactions mean 2 different things. We say hello, how are you? We don't really want to know, and it is hard for me at art openings to become the person who answers truthfully.
So in saying this perception is everything. It starts with whatever the viewer sees first. Artist, building art is housed in, wall composition, and then the piece itself. Everyone is different and so what happens when one is alone with the piece is personal to them. I think so many people have come to understand the art world as exclusionary and do not understand once they choose to engage in it their vote counts too. The idea of the sensitive viewer is a device used to make others feel that because they do not appreciate a piece it is not the piece it is them. Yes it is true that a piece I do not like today I may like tomorrow, but it is also true I may never like the piece.

Also here is last weeks thesis image: