Why would I want to critique my own work? Why would I want someone else, either professional or lay, to critique my work?
Don't I know what my work is trying to say, do, mean? Can't I convey that in words?
But where does my work come from? From the sum of all my life, experience, knowledge. I have seen a lot of things in my time. And felt a lot of experiences. How can I be sure which ones are relevant to this particular work?
On the other hand, a professional critic hasn't been inside my mind/brain/heart for the last 46 years. How can he possibly know what the work means? Only by comparison to other works, either other works by me, or works by other artists. He probably has a wider knowledge of art, a deeper thinking about it than I can have. Erm... But why should this be true? Perhaps he is just better with words.
And people might believe a critic more than they believe me.
And what about a member of the public? What do they know? They know if they like it or not. Like it enough to take a photo of it. To read the text about it. To buy it. To look at it every day. Would they believe me, or a critic? Would they care?
Is my objectivity better than someone else's subjectivity? Can a critic be objective? Do I want the public to be objective? Or to remain subjective?
objective
1610s, originally in the philosophical sense of "considered in relation to its object" (opposite of subjective ), formed on pattern of M.L. objectivus , from objectum "object" (see object (n.)). Meaning "impersonal, unbiased" is first found 1855, influenced by Ger. objektiv. The noun is 1738, with sense of "something objective to the mind;" meaning "goal, aim" is first as a military term from the U.S. War Between the States, 1864 (in objective point ), from Fr.; general use of it is first attested 1881.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Cite This Source
objective. Dictionary.com. Online Etymology Dictionary. Douglas Harper, Historian. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/objective (accessed: April 24, 2011).
subjective
mid-15c., "pertaining to a political subject" (now obsolete), from L.L. subjectivus , from subjectus (see subject (n.)). Meaning "existing in the mind" (mind="the thinking subject") is from 1707; thus, "personal idiosyncratic" (1767). Related: Subjectively ; subjectivity .
subjective. Dictionary.com. Online Etymology Dictionary. Douglas Harper, Historian. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/subjective (accessed: April 24, 2011).
