An Interpretation of Franz Kline
This week I found myself thinking more about the work of Franz Kline and whilst simultaneously reading some work by Deleuze and Guattari, it got me thinking about the perspective of artworks - is our interpretation determined by our pre-existing knowledge or experience? educational level? and ultimately our socio-economic environment?
My hypothesis is that as the Arts are associated predominantly with the elite, middle/high classes, that people’s exposure to art would be somewhat limited if they were from a lower socio-economic area, and with that a potential correlation with lower educational level and skills. I’m aware this is incredibly generalised and perhaps stereotypical, but current statistics do lean towards this theory.
I decided to set about just three questions in a multiple choice survey, which I then shared across my social media. Choosing the right questions is always difficult, with ethical considerations too. I certainly don’t want to lead the question, nor provide limiting options for my enquiry. Two of the questions are therefore more objective - asking participants about their educational level and how often they visit Art Galleries. One of the questions however, is much more subjective, perhaps even leading, asking what the initial response is to a painting by Franz Kline. The choices I gave were deliberate, with the option of providing an alternative answer. From my experience however, people will opt for the easiest way to complete a survey - multiple choice was the preferred option.
There have been approximately 10 results back so far, but I will keep the survey open for a while longer. It is difficult to guauge a true and comprehensive picture, partly as there are so few participants, and also the participant group are my connections, my friends, family and associates - if I consider myself and that wider circle, I am from a lower socio-economic background; majority of my friends I am aware, do not have any interest in Art, nor high educational level. I am therefore aware, this is not a completely fair study, on a number of levels, but the results so far do seem to correlate with my initial hypothesis.
What I find interesting is that so far, the results show that people who never visited art galleries were all intrigued by the image - whereas those who sometimes or often visited galleries, had more nuanced responses of power, sorrow and an optional answer of submission.
How then can we increase exposure to the Arts? Is it possible to encourage someone to become more engaged with art? If so, could art then be more effective as a mechanism for social change? So far, this has been an interesting avenue to explore.
