Sheening Is Performance Art

One of the issues that came up in today’s discussion was levels of appreciation and how the first and most basic seems to be on the same level of that of the sparrow that is fooled by the cherries on an oil painting. If within the discussion of Plato’s Republic we consider this to be true should we create a separation between artistic intention and the interpretation we retrieve through our independent mimetic exploration? Or should we say that intention is not of importance? In addition, shall it be said that the individual that does not see in art something beyond what the artist intended is himself not deserving of viewing/interpreting art?

An illustration:

Individual A collapses into deep sleep and in a dream sees himself in third person painting an American Flag. He wakes up the next morning and buys several materials to paint the American Flag he dreamed of. It takes him a month of laborious layering of oil and wax encaustic to complete the work. He presents the painting at his next exhibition where critics rally to interpret his work. Art critics measure the stripes and the stars trying to find deeper meaning. They also look at the laborious layering seeking meaning; some interpret it as a symbol of the state of the nation. Art critics spend more time trying to rationalize the significance of the painting than the artist spent on the actual painting. Would the same process of interpretation been carried out for a relatively unknown artist that recreates an everyday object for an exhibition?

Just in case you were curious- Individual A is Jasper Johns

So the question remains. Is there a possibility that sometimes art could be an attempt to be a faithful depiction of an object and it should be interpreted as such or within our mimetic exploration do we carry the responsibility to look beyond what the artist intends. Some have theorized that artists of all disciplines are sometimes so involved within their work that they cannot verbalize the larger implications of their work and that it is up to the distinct viewer to expose these. Does this further the mind game and leave the question unanswered?