Ways of Seeing Response

When analyzing art, John Berger describes the ways in which its meanings and interpretation can vary dramatically. Once such a way he describes is with the development of cameras and digital image production. Berger describes that cameras have made paintings more easily transmissible and as a result alters its meaning depending on how the reproduction is used. I find that the use of modern technology to alter how an art piece is viewed is beneficial. While an artist may have one intended meaning for an art piece, a different viewer will always have varying opinions and ideas about the same piece of art. Cameras are just a tool for the alteration of an art piece’s meaning and for amplifying how many people can develop a meaning for the art piece. It alone did not give us the power to change the meaning of an art piece as that power always existed.

Berger also goes into the uses of oil paintings and advertisements. He describes oil paintings as “a medium to celebrate private possessions” and advertisements as just a continuation of this in the modern era. What’s notable is that the technology used to create modern advertisements and oil paintings are dramatically different. Most advertisements are made with a mixture of cameras, computers and other technology while most oil paintings didn’t have these technologies at their disposal when they were painted. Further, advertisements are made with the intention of drawing the attention of a large audience to a product while oil paintings were made to reach a smaller audience. It's interesting then that he views the impact of advertisements to be equal to that of oil paintings depicting wealth and fortunes. What this demonstrates is that the intention of the artist and the medium used has a small impact on how an art piece is interpreted. Like with the cameras mentioned in the first episode, advertisements are seen differently depending on how it was looked at. To the average viewer it may just be an advertisement for a new product. But as Berger points out, it can be just another celebration of wealth as seen with earlier oil paintings depending on how you look at it.