What is the best way to look at art?

There are some ways that offer advantages, perhaps, but not necessarily a “best.” So why phrase it this way? A question can be regarded as a precise linguistic inquiry or as an inquiry that has a heart and many implied inquiries surrounding it. It is not about linguistic exactness. It exists as a conceptual feeling. Like a work of art, where we move in various ways to get a point of view, this inquiry is profound and deserves reverence.   Only one work of art to view or many others around: the context of the “looking.” The viability of the viewability: how much true attention any work of art gets. The drawback to seeing a work of art in a space highly populated with other works of art: viewer fatigue. Mid-range venues: smaller shows with fewer works of art without viewer overwhelm. Notice what you keep getting drawn back to. With one work of art for a length of time, we start to look in different ways. We alter what “looking” means. Looking can equal listening, reading, etc… The feeling of “I need to move on,” while viewing and you’re in a place with other works, an easy solution is to notice other things. But when that is not an option, then you have the option to take on another approach to noticing. In a saturated space: the way of looking can easily stay the same, the content of looking can easily change. But when there’s just one work, or a few to look at, we might alter what it means to look.   For 45 minutes you’ll only listen to this one 5 minute song. Over that 45 minutes, you might do different things that are called “listening.” Compare this to 45 minutes with no limits of what you can listen to.   Looking in such a way that you are keenly aware that you are changing what “to look” means.   Are we going to create in such ways that allow for rich pathways of discovery?   The benefits of taking on another creative pursuit. When you are creating art, you are looking at works for a very long time. Looking for a long time as a creator in that realm isn’t unusual or a challenge. We do this all the time. We look even as we’re not working. Looking is a form of working with creative production.   Music makers know that just listening for four minutes straight through to a four-minute song is not the only way of listening.   It can be beneficial to take up another kind of creative pursuit. It allows you to see the ways of the creative process differently.   Hypothetical: a musician takes up illustrating. What does a day of illustrating allow you as a musician to see about the creative process? When you take up a creative venture that is less usual to you, it allows you to come up with other definitions of what it means to create. This is in the same way that looking at one work of art for a long time (or listening, or reading) allows you to redefine what looking (listening, reading) means.