Art: How to Understand and Enjoy It

Daria Kozlova is an art lecturer-popularizer, a professional artist, and a graduate of the Moscow State Academic Art Institute named after V.I. Surikov (studio of V.I. Tеlin). For over 11 years she has been running lecture-trainings, teaching audiences to think by interacting with art. She is the author of the method “4 Questions for Understanding Art,” which has been used by more than 2,500,000 participants.

Asya Asvoinova is an artist and illustrator. She is the author of illustrations for documentary and animated films: “Boris Dobrodeev. ‘Mosfilm’ on the Winds of History,” “Underwater World,” “Space,” “IQ Dino,” “The Magic Kitchen.” She is also the author of illustrations for books: “Space New Year. A Practical Guide for Parents—How to Play with Children” (Anna Morozova), “Art. How to Understand and Enjoy It” (Daria Kozlova), as well as illustrations for the Bosco company.

This book, for me as a contemporary artist, is creativity and a philosophical reflection on how art works and interacts with the viewer. This book is an experiment in which I invite you to participate: can we understand art without anyone’s help? Visual art without personal lived experience, only from ready-made answers, does not give experience of involvement and genuine connection with the work. Art provides answers to us about ourselves. It is a big metaphor, a mirror, and a conversation partner.

I want to legitimize the possibility of thinking independently—without relying on someone else’s expert opinion—when interacting with art. Any point of view revised or changed in the course of reading this book will significantly diversify your perception of both art and the world as a whole.