Usage of Symbolism

Symbolism is when an object is used to convey meanings and ideas greater than the object's physical existence alone. For example, the color blue can represent sadness; despite the scientific fact that blue is simply a wavelength of light that the human eye can perceive. However, when symbolism is used in art, the symbol can take on different meanings. Going back to the color blue, it can also represent freedom as in the open skies or vast oceans. These multiple meanings need to be defined in the context that surrounds the symbol.

Amateur art can often fail at this and leave the viewer wondering what it is that the artist is trying to convey. The viewer could become either bored out of his mind or blindly say that it is a good use of symbolism to avoid embarrassment in front of his peers. That second type of person mostly only appears in an artistic community, honestly. If you were to take a group of engineering students (who in general aren't very artistically minded) to the museum of modern art and point them at a plain colored piece of "art" on the wall, they would laugh at it or openly agree there is nothing to it.

Art with an ambiguous meaning does have a place, but only if used well. There must be many hints in place that allow viewers to make conclusions based on their own logic. This could lead to different viewers seeing different things and debate over the true meaning. The resulting debate is what can make ambiguous art good.

There are times when it seems like art has symbols just thrown in that are clearly designed to symbolize something but aren't clear because they weren't properly integrated. This leaves viewers confused and angry at the art. Major symbols in an art piece can require the viewer to have extensive background knowledge of mythology and common usage of the symbols to make any sense. Art should be able to tie everything together on its own or make it clear what its target audience is and cater towards it.

Part of the fault for symbolism being used poorly so often may fall with the viewers. Everyone knows that hardcore art critics and teachers love going on about the symbolism behind the works (even if they weren't intended). This pressures artists and writers to cram in any symbols they can find or draw odd connections between objects and ideas (“This picture of a simple chair totally represents the depths of the human psyche”). I think artists are better off avoiding the usage of symbolism if there is no place for it or if it would be used poorly. Symbolism is just a tool that can have great effect only if used creatively and properly.