So like…idk I’m not sure how to explain this.

I can enjoy art, and I can appreciate and respect art. But like…I don’t know how to enjoy things “abstractly” per se?

What i mean is that I like reading and movies and paintings and such. But I can’t enjoy “classics” per se. Nor can I enjoy Avant-garde art. But I can respect both. I want to enjoy both too. I’ve tried reading both Le Miserables and dream of the red chamber but both times ive put them down fairly quickly (although the dream of the red chamber book I was reading was a fairly old translation, so maybe that was it). Ive also tried reading some poems out of Vladimir Mayakovsky’s “the backbone flute” but they havent ellicted and reaction from me. And I really, really respect avant-garde work. I would rather someone like Yoko Ono be successful over Blake Shelton, because Blake Shelton makes the most generic crap, while Yoko Ono actually tries to make things different and interesting.

But I kinda would rather listen to Blake Shelton (obviously if I have broader choice I’m picking someone like Woody Gunthrie or Phil Ochs, but if it was between Shelton and Ono, it’d be a tough choice).

So I guess my main question is how do people enjoy art in the “abstract” way (again, I know that’s not a good term but idk what else to call it)? Because I see critics and such wax lyrically about this stuff and they seem to really enjoy it so I wanna enjoy art like that too, beyond “oh it’s pretty” or “oh its fun.”

  • albigu@lemmygrad.ml
    1·
    4 hours ago

    I think one thing about “classics” is that they’re just classics for their culture. You should look for art that somehow ties to your own history. One of the best experiences I had was reading “Vidas Secas”, which is a book that ties very well a lot of common themes for my family and community but also our local dialect that’s slowly being erased by the internet.

    I can’t really recommend you anything, but I can’t see why the story of Les Miserables, however well written, might touch a good portion of the world population.

    I also really enjoy taking note of the many ways some video games portray their themes besides dialogue and text. Things like camera framing, colour coding, ludonarrative, music all driving the same point forward. It’s about both appreciating the emotions that something makes me feel and also the techniques employed to make me feel that. And a great contrast is things like a bad TV series that’s supposed to be tense but it ends up just funny.