How to approach art – the art perception guide.
Look at it. Pass it and forget about it. If it speaks to you turn back and stay with it, perhaps you have something to talk about.
Be free to create
Once I've noticed that some achievements of the proud mankind are simultaneously defeats of basic humanism: sophisticated life-penetrating systems, which can reduce us to be a kind of filled file in some mysterious document; we are classified in terms of our intellect, emotions, status etc. Our creativity, instead of being used to create more freedom, is used to build a more perfect and "magnificent" system of control and manipulation.
The space for what is irrational, imperfect or disordered becomes increasingly narrow. The room for trials and mistakes, for searching and for research, for listening to others and observing what happens around is gone.
Being inquisitive, asking questions is no longer valued in the world of simple and ready-to-go manifestations. Freedom is leaving us, step by step.
What is free of supervision, beyond statistics and classification, is the only real margin of freedom we can exercise – that is creation, that is art.
Freedom of choice
Why should we be told how to experience art following someone else’s taste? There are many art spaces, almost countless exhibitions around us, many views and visions, but sometimes I feel like our choice is narrowed to the trends which are “the right and proper”. Can art exist without a crafted explanation?
Freedom of interpretation
Manipulation in art makes me furious. Being an audience we are informed through different statements how to approach artworks; many people follow this path. We are forced to look at art as seen by ‘influential critics and established experts’. This ‘business’ produces caricatures of both: art and artists. This poses a question whether our current freedom is enough?
Meet my works without any comments or hints from the author. Take it how you will, BE FREE FOR ART!
The artist
Maciej Hoffman graduated with a Master’s Degree in painting and sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Wroclaw, Poland in 1992. His early years as an artist were strictly linked to the advertising business as the company leader. In 2007 he quit, deciding to work as an independent artist and moved his studio to London. Focused on painting as his favourite medium he also works with digital graphics, photography, stage and costume design and installations, exhibiting worldwide.