I heard it said recently that the average person spends eight seconds looking at a work of art. Eight seconds! What can one see of something that could have taken hours, weeks, months, or years to create in eight seconds? I count down using one Essequibo, two Essequibo, three Essequibo. Eight seconds does seem like enough time to decide whether to continue looking and that is about it. Looking means a volley of questions and possible answers. What am I looking at? What material was used? Is the technique paired with the material choices well suited? Are the techniques skillfully applied? How do I feel looking at this work? How do I feel walking around the work, through the work? What is the artist intending for me to experience? Has the artist succeeded? These are just a ramble of random questions that come to me as I look for seconds that have ticked away and turned to minutes.
