Dialogue with Angie B: a collaborative experiment in art criticism

Abstract

This article is the outcome of a discussion between a writer and a painter that took place in the artist's studio over a period of six months. The aim of the discussion was to explore the contribution of a philosophical approach to art criticism, in particular, looking at the uses of phenomenology to articulate the motivations and intentions of the artist towards both the object and an audience. The article offers aspects of phenomenology as a way of approaching works of artistic production that may be overlooked, undervalued or marginalized by conventional critical attitudes. It highlights the experience of engaging with paintings on an intimate level, that is, in the immediate proximity of a productive or receptive context.

Keywords:

• phenomenology
• emergence
• essence
• engagement
• the edge
• imagination