Looking, ©Steven Uhles, 2025
It doesn’t take too many warm bodies at an art opening to turn a space traditionally associated with calm and quiet into something more cacophonous. It is, in part, due to the nature of gallery space. Flat walls, high ceilings, and hard surfaces can make even the quietest of conversations pinball across a room. Multiply that single conversation, and that echo becomes an ocean, a vast sea of voices, none of which are particularly discernible. Dipping in and out required real navigation, swinging through couples and clusters, passively listening to or actively participating in multiple conversations. For those who might find crowds and clamor intimidating, it can be a daunting gauntlet to run – but here is a tip and word of reassurance. The conversational participants may change, but the conversations rarely do. They all circle the same subject, asking and answering the same question time and again.
What’s it all about?
What is this painter trying to say? What is this sculptor attempting to communicate? What was this photographer feeling when the shutter clicked?
What’s it all about?
Often, of course, the inquisitive will refer to the artists themselves, often found patrolling the perimeter with a plastic glass of warm red clutched like either a totem or a security blanket, depending on their temperament. Anecdotal experience states that the most common answer is a simple inversion of the question itself.
“I don’t know. What does it mean to you?”
Some might say that asking questions without answers – and often without expectation of answers – is folly. They will argue that standing in front of work and pondering out loud only increases the decibel levels. The other side of that argument, however, is that there is a certain comfort in those conversations. Among patrons, it represents a certain thoughtfulness that allows each to see the other as a compatriot. For the wine-toting artist, it is a validation of sorts. They may not tip their cards, but being asked to explain the mysteries of the creative process means people have responded to the work and want to engage in it in a far more meaningful way.
And that is a pleasing sound.