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Has anyone else faced this challenge and overcome it somehow?
I have had a similar "issue", I never understood what do people see in art and why it always seems so hyped up. But just by getting more mature, and exposing yourself to different things and people, your perspective changes. That is what happened to me. I've started to notice that my eyes were getting more and more attracted to visual things. Photographs, paintings, etc. I've started to notice more details, more things came into place, the reason behind some of the works I've seen.
It's just my personal experience. I liked the natural transition. And it's still happening. I think it will never end. But if you're naturally leaning towards it, don't rush it. It's art. You don't have to understand it to love it, but over time you'll love it even more as it reveals itself.
I find that good art is actually a way of crystallizing and capturing emotions of a period of time. Many of those emotions don't resonate with us as they were in some period of history unfamiliar with us.
Music tends to capture emotions much better. There's the anger in Eminem's music, the helplessness of Linkin Park, the depression of Nirvana, ambition and energy of Queen.
Art paintings and sculptures tends to target art viewers. It's not meant to just be beautiful but say something. Like memes, they much of it is a fresh take on a common thought of the period. But looking at it as an outsider, they're hard to get.
You might appreciate architecture more. There are things like animated sculptures or huge ones crafted from steel. Or things more subtle, playing with light.
Or if you want things that captures and enhances natural beauty, photography and food is a kind of art too.
But what I find to be the rawest kind of art is war memorials. The most memorable art experience for me was visiting war memorials in Canberra. You can also go to places like Holocaust museums.
You might just not have seen good art. Like someone who has tasted only dark chocolate might summarize that they simply "don't like chocolate". I find that good art is actually a way of crystallizing and capturing emotions of a period of time. Many of those emotions don't resonate with us as they were in some period of history unfamiliar with us. Music tends to capture emotions much better. There's the anger in Emine…
There's a bunch of stuff that we used to think was universal but we've relatively recently found out isn't. One example would be "forming mental images of things".
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-34039054
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10148792
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11554894
Is there nothing at all that provokes any reaction? No film that triggers anything?
Wanna know what changed me a lot? Diverse friend circle, drugs and listening to Kanye West. Those things taught me to look at life in a different way, appreciate the emotion and experiences they capture or try to evoke. I love art now. I got a huge basquiat canvas on my wall (not an original ofc) and a bunch of paintings by artists that aren't remotely popular.
Go to a museum and take a guided tour where they talk about the artists. You should start to feel intellectual curiosity at the very least.
You might just not have seen good art. Like someone who has tasted only dark chocolate might summarize that they simply "don't like chocolate". I find that good art is actually a way of crystallizing and capturing emotions of a period of time. Many of those emotions don't resonate with us as they were in some period of history unfamiliar with us. Music tends to capture emotions much better. There's the anger in Emine…
Good point. What are your interests eelliot? May sound strange but I absolutely love looking at video game concept art.
One of the books I read was "What Are You Looking At?: 150 Years of Modern Art in the Blink of an Eye", by Will Gompertz[0].
It's fantastic! The book is great at making you "get" art, and it's significance. Art is not so much about "emotion" as it is about showing and telling the same things in a different way. Or just doing something completely different!
[0]https://www.amazon.co.uk/What-Are-You-Looking-At/dp/06709204...