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The best way to talk about art when you don’t know anything about it is to find someone who does, ask them insightful questions, and listen to what you are told. If there is one thing so many people love, it is to talk about what they know. The greater their area of expertise, the more compelling the conversations can become…and that’s when the bon mots get dropped, juicy little bits and pieces that you can use in conversation of your own, at a later time, with someone else.
Talking about art when you don’t know anything about art begins with an open mind and an even larger nose. You’ve got to be a curious cat and be willing to learn. The best way to begin is to ask something you want to know; for an engaging question is like a glass of fine wine; it can be incredibly disarming. People often get drunk with a desire to share their ideas and be heard. And, like liquor, conversation can have the effect of lowering one’s inhibitions, becoming increasingly revealing as time goes on.
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I remember discussing portraiture with artist Don Bachardy. Here he was, this spry octogenarian, telling me about his days in Hollywood drawing everyone from David Hockney to Jack Nicholson. We talked about the way art connects us to each other. Bachardy then observed, “I am continually surprised to look at someone who is sitting for me because it is unnatural to sit still for hours at a time and have someone staring, peering, looking right through them. None of us like being stared at intentionally. I’ve often thought maybe I became an artist to have an excuse to look deeply at people. We choose professions that give us extra license.”
And that’s when it hit me. My eyes lit up as I dropped my pen to slap the table with my palm. That’s why I love journalism. I want to interview people. I want to ask all the questions we don’t get to ask in polite conversation. It’s really quite nosy, but in the proper context, it’s simply being a member of the Fourth Estate.
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So how does this relate to you? As I see it, the best way to talk about art when you don’t know anything about art is to get someone to do it for you.
I see many people become incredibly insecure when it comes to talking about art. I remember speaking with a noted physicist who had studied with Einstein at Princeton; old man looked despondent as he recounted to me a visit Sistine Chapel several decades earlier; he felt nothing when he looked at the ceiling and thought that stood as a mark against him.
“Not to worry,” I reassured him. “Michelangelo was a sculptor, not a painter. He didn’t want to paint the ceiling, but the Pope forced his hand.” A wave of relief swept across the old man’s face, as though I had just returned to him something he lost years before. For many people “Art” is imbued with a pseudo-spiritual sophistication that can be wiped away by the socioeconomic realities of politics, propaganda, and commerce, though most people aren’t quick to mention that.
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The best way to talk about art when you know nothing about art is to start with the basic six: Who? What? Where? When? Why? How? This can keep many people busy for a good long time. You will be amazed how much you can talk about art when your role is to listen. When you actively engage in hearing what is being said (as opposed to prepare your reply then im/patiently wait to speak), you can absorb the information through both sight and sound. You become a vessel into which knowledge is poured, and at the very least you will retain a basic dialectic for the conversation about art. And, if you are anything of a decent raconteur, you’ll be dining on bon mots dropped by artists, curators, and critics for months to come.
Miss Rosen is a New York-based writer, curator, and brand strategist. There is nothing she adores so much as photography and books. A small part of her wishes she had a proper library, like in the game of Clue. Then she could blaze and write soliloquies to her in and out of print loves.
