Good curation is vital to the success of an art exhibition, an often underrated
skill. Done well it ensures interesting content, clear links and comparisons which
gives the viewer a way in but doesn't tell them what to think. However, this isn't
always the case and anyway it always helps to "read" what's in front of you using a
few basic rules.
My suggestion is that we read a very short book titled "How to Read Paintings" by
Christopher P Jones. It's around 80 odd pages and will only take a few hours to
read. The author's written several other books on similar themes which are worth
dipping into as well. The book looks closely at around a dozen well known paintings
by a wide variety of artists to analyse context, message, formation and relevance
which gives the reader / viewer some techniques to make their own analysis and
appreciation.
Supplementary reading could include another book similarly titled "How to Read
Paintings" by Nadeije Laneyrie-Dagen (a much more scholarly and detailed take on the
same subject), "Ways of Seeing" by John Berger (according to the archive covered by
NaBG in April 2011) and "A Little History of Art" by Charlotte Mullins.
After a discussion to critique both the book and the ideas the author puts forward
I suggest we then take turns and spend say 5 -10 minutes each and put forward a work
of art (bring a few A4 prints to pass round) which we like (or hate) and share our
thoughts about it with the group using our new found expertise.