“Find a work of art that you strongly dislike. What does your reaction to it tell you about yourself?”
When I first read this prompt, I thought, “Oh man, this is gonna be so easy! I dislike so many things.” Which is true. I like to think I have a rather selective taste for art, whether it’s TV shows, fashion, or music. Do you remember that stage of early adolescence where you would strive to be “not like most people” when it came to nearly every aspect of your life? Yeah, I never really grew out of that. So here I was in the Philadelphia Museum of Art, tasked with complaining about an artwork, thinking this would be my inner 13-year-old’s moment to shine.
I soon realized the difficulty of the task at hand. As I walked through the historical art collections, I struggled to find a piece that evoked strong feelings of dislike. At best, I could dredge up a mild “eh, I don’t necessarily prefer this one.” This was surprising to me! Why was I having such a hard time forming an opinion about these pieces? One obvious explanation is that the PMA doesn’t exhibit bad art; it just doesn’t. Another, more complex reason I think is that, in contrast to many TV shows and music of the modern day, all the art I was observing was evidently borne out of a deep passion for the form. These pieces were the projects of very talented, devoted individuals who had their own unique message to convey, their own story to tell. I finally realized that trying to find a piece wherein I dislike the art itself was pointless. Instead, I would need to find something wherein it was my reaction to the piece that I disliked.
I eventually chose to write about “The Parallels” by Yves Tanguy (1929). For the record, I think this is a beautiful artwork. It has its artistic merits. I do, however, strongly dislike the way this piece makes me feel. “The Parallels” leaves far too much to the imagination for me to feel comfortable while viewing the piece. There’s a reason I gravitated toward the modern, abstract art collection as I grew desperate to find a piece: I don’t like things that don’t obviously make sense. My worldview is so grounded in logic that when I see an artwork featuring nondescript objects postured randomly against an ambiguous backdrop, I get frustrated. This piece gives me the same ominous vibes as a bad dream or a Courage the Cowardly Dog episode. What I’m trying to say is that I don’t like to feel confused or threatened; therefore, I don’t like this piece. Is that something I should work on?
Ivie Osagiede is an MS1 at the Perelman School of Medicine.
