When we look at an artwork, there are only two terms to the equation — the art and ourselves. Creating art is an intimate individual exercise but once an artwork has left the artist it takes on another life. It is its reception in the public space that determines whatever it is destined to be.

A painting or an artwork is an expression of life, a way of commenting on experience. Usually artists express what they feel strongly enough about in a form that they and others can come to terms with. Visual communication by artists is considered successful if there is interaction between the artwork and the viewers. What the observers receive or take in is relative to the kind of knowledge, awareness or expectations they happen to have. If they know something of what the artists of different ages have attempted to say ,they will be more likely to understand and enjoy their work. A sunflower painting by Vincet Van Gogh carries far deeper meaning than a similar attempt by an amateur. The paintings belonging to Murraqa-i-Chughtai and Amal Chughtai have greater resonance for those familiar with the poetry of Ghalib and Iqbal than those who are not.

Effective communication between an audience and an artwork rests on several factors. What does the art do to the audience? Does it merely confirm what they know — about themselves, about the world, about society? Does it extend their experience of all or any of these three things? Does it provide a new kind of experience altogether, one entirely outside their normal range? The more frequently and systematically spectators look at art, the more they will be able to get out of it.

A work of art is one half of a dialogue, the other half of which is the audience

A contrary view to audience as art consumer is: do creations need an audience beyond the creator to be considered art? Artists focus most of their energy in creating the work, giving it everything necessary to survive without them. This is their highest calling, to receive the work, to bring it forth, to nurture it and allow it to emerge through them. The work has meaning simply because it exists. It does not need an audience to have purpose or a place in this world. The idea of “art for art’s sake” was a creed of the 20th century bohemians. Denying the functional or commercial aspect of art they emphasised the pursuance of the creative act as an end in itself. But, the creative impulse fundamentally involves connecting with other people. Anyone can throw across an idea. The truly creative person makes a connection — and that connection leads to other creative conversations.

In 1872, the French novelist George Sand wrote that the artist has a “duty to find an adequate expression to convey it to as many souls as possible.” Creativity is essential to the wellbeing of a society. Art needs an audience. A good artist serves his audience. A bad artist exploits it.

Art in Pakistan is much more experimental and diverse today than ever before but the art and audience equation remains uneven. In the absence of a much-needed art museum, it is the galleries that function as repositories of art. Going to a gallery is not a cultural trait here. Other than a selected crowd specific to the art milieu, general audience turnout at galleries is abysmal. This, ‘disconnect,’ between art and audience raises questions about responsibility on both sides of the divide.

There is an art history deficit here that needs to be addressed. Public motivation and curiosity is minimal and few publications are available to inform the interested about the history of art in Pakistan. Art is not appreciated in context — this is a disservice to the artist and the audience.

There is no dearth of talent, skills and ingenuity in Pakistan but the nature of art has become variable. New art often plays to the gallery or the art investor category of clients and their bizarre tastes. The strange and the inexplicable bewilder and alienate the ordinary viewers. Inaccessible art encourages the “disconnect” syndrome — it is not a crowd-puller.

Artists as creators and audience as receivers should realise that art helps us to integrate ourselves with the world in which we live. And one of the fascinations of contemporary art is its closeness to our own time — because it is ours, it is the art which should most deeply concern us. If we reject it, we are rejecting a part of ourselves.

Published in Dawn, EOS, May 21st, 2017