What Did the Artist Mean?

Much of contemporary abstract art develops its own visual language. The symbols are often deeply personal, and without understanding the artist's context, it's difficult to know what lies behind them. Naturally, we look for an explanation. We ask what the artist meant to say.

For a long time, I thought the same way.

My first large paintings were planned down to the smallest detail. I created digital sketches and showed them to friends to see what they read into them. If they didn't see the idea the way I intended, I changed the composition. I wanted the message to be clear. Unambiguous.

Over time, and through conversations with more and more people, I realized something.

Different people would stand in front of the very same painting and see completely different things. One recognized loneliness. Another saw hope. A third saw eroticism. Someone else found a meaning I had never consciously put there.

It reminded me of the Rorschach inkblot test. Everyone looks at the same image, yet inevitably interprets it through their own memories, fears, desires, and life experiences. I think the same thing happens when we stand in front of a painting.

At first, that surprised me.

Then I started to enjoy it.

I realized that a painting doesn't end the moment I finish it. Its real life begins only when it meets someone's gaze.

The same is true of art itself.

Every viewer arrives carrying their own life. Their fears, memories, hopes, and losses. They inevitably become part of the way the painting is seen.

Today, I no longer try to impose a single meaning. If I did, I would limit not only the person standing in front of the painting, but the painting itself.

In my recent work, I've begun pursuing something different. Rather than leading the viewer toward a specific answer, I want to leave space for their own questions. I'll write about how this shift has also changed the way I paint in my next article.

What each person discovers when they stand before a painting is no longer up to me.

My job is simply to open the door.