Just now I was designing my next tattoo and thinking about how everyone always asks you why you got a particular tattoo or what it means to you. The piece that I'm looking at getting is a painting by this great artist Milk. While I was trying to decide what the painting means to me and how in the hell I could easily answer that question, I started thinking about what the painting says to me versus what the artist was thinking or trying to say with her art. This got me thinking about my own art and the meanings behind what I do. People are always asking what I'm trying to say with the carrots or what the carrots mean to me. Honestly, I'm not trying to make any kind of statement. The carrots don't have some special meaning. I just like painting them. They're easy and they intrigue people. That's all. I do find myself putting things in my paintings for the sole purpose of making people think about and question why I put it in there. Again, that element isn't me trying to say something, just trying to get people to think.
In my opinion, art should be looked at more for what it says to you than what you think the artist is "trying" to say. How does the image make you feel, what issues does it bring up for you. In almost every situation, you will never know exactly what the artist was thinking or feeling anyway, unless they left very detailed explanations for everything. Sometimes I get really annoyed with people who sit around trying to dissect every little element of someone else's artwork. You always hear art snobs talking about how some tiny detail shows the artist's political leanings towards this or that. Now, I'm not saying that this isn't the case sometimes, but seriously, sometimes they put that African mask in the corner because they thought it looked nifty. Can't that be enough? Can't you just appreciate the art for what it is? A pretty, intriguing picture?
Ok, I'll get off my little soapbox now, but I just want to leave you with this: when you're looking at or discussing art try leaving the artist out of it and just focus on how the piece itself makes you feel. It'll probably be much more interesting and speak to you so much more.