Unpopular opinion: Trying to “understand” art necessarily impoverishes it. Understanding is just modeling, i.e. simplifying…

Unpopular opinion: Trying to “understand” art necessarily impoverishes it. Understanding is just modeling, i.e. simplifying something for the sake of tractability. When we simplify our perception of art in order to “understand” it, we lose a lot.

— Noah Smith (@Noahpinion) January 7, 2019

(via http://twitter.com/Noahpinion/status/1082385443096674304)