Two kinds of painter

I do sometimes wonder about messages in art. There are clearly those who incorporate messages and meanings by their choice of content etc (especially in some of the old masters) but I wonder if that applies to the many. I have heard commentators wax lyrical about meanings hidden in paintings when reviewing exhibitions or presenting art programmes and accept that meanings can be interpreted but I do wonder if they were ever intended by the artist. I sometimes am inclined to think about the Emperors wardrobe. Or perhaps I am just being a tad cynical. I write a lot of poetry much of which is quite enigmatic and when I post it (I've just posted one this morning at Mypoeticside) I get a lot of comments interpreting it's meaning and asking if they had got it correct. Well the answer is that I never had an interpretation in mind in the first place - I just wanted to throw ideas at the reader. The same applies to my abstract work which I post here from time to time. It's up the reader/viewer to interpret if he so wishes - the poem/abstract is merely an invitation to engage the imagination and nothing more and I'm sure that is the case for more representational work as well even if the artist never gave it a conscious thought. .

Yes, I find symbolist art interesting. I guess we all approach art in different ways, some of us like to talk about what we were after in our image (like me, for instance), others just post without a word. Many think the image should do the speaking. I don't think there's a right or wrong way. How do you approach a new image? With me, there has to be an idea behind it...it's the idea I'm trying to depict...not the landscape, the still life, or the portrait. I don't pretend there's anything deep in my images, not profound thought, but a simple idea. My last post was a drawing of broken antique dolls. I think they are slightly, very slightly, unnerving...so what I'm trying to draw is that idea, not exact copies of antique dolls. I do sometimes just copy things, for practice, all I'm trying to do here is reproduce what I'm seeing. These images have the least interest for me. I do these to restock the supply of images inside my head, which helps me when I just make pictures up. (And also because I simply enjoy the act of drawing and painting). Others may just want to paint a landscape that inspired them, or a bowl of fruit, and try to reproduce what it was that inspired them. I don't know whether art needs a message. It needs variety.