View the art. Glance at it, then ask yourself the questions below. Then, take a longer look and ask yourself the same questions.

• Do you like it?

• What do you like about it?

• How does it make you feel?

• What does it mean?

You are not wrong; all your answers are valid, important, and enhance the piece.

Each piece of artwork gains depth and meaning with each glance, each viewer, each interpretation. Just like “No man ever steps in the same river twice,” no artwork is the same for each person, each time.

There is no “wrong” in the interpretation or evaluation of… well, anything that is emotion / opinion based. Does 2+2=4? Yes, because math is rarely opinion-based (a little joke there, for the math geeks). But art, food, etc., are. You love mushrooms? Great! I hate mushrooms. Neither of us is wrong. Are you deathly allergic to mushrooms? That’s not an opinion, it’s fact, and you shouldn’t eat mushrooms, regardless of your opinion of them.

What about the artist’s interpretation, their intended meaning? Sure, when an artist says that the canvas which they smeared with black and yellow paint is meant to represent the chaotic nature of hailing a cab, their interpretation is valid, important, and enhances the piece. But, it is not the only interpretation.

If I just had a heck of a time hailing a cab, the artist’s interpretation might resonate with me. But, what if I was recently sitting in a garden, watching bees happily buzz about? If I see happily buzzing bees in the black and yellow swaths of paint, does that make me wrong?

No. Because interpretation is never wrong, never invalid.

Want to practice this foolproof method? Great! Choose from the pieces below or from my portfolio or shop pages, then tell me what you think in the comments section below.

Thank you for reading!

~Max