A troubling trend has reached our attention: people are liking things. Openly. Without first checking whether liking them is permitted.
The Problem Defined
To like a work directly (to look at it and feel a warmth unmediated by theory) is, we regret to say, amateurish. The trained patron does not like a painting. The trained patron finds it interesting, which is a colder, more defensible position, and one that cannot later be used against you.
Enjoyment leaves a paper trail. Interest does not.
A Safer Vocabulary
The committee recommends the following phrases, ranked by sophistication:
- "I find it interesting." Safe. Reveals nothing. Devastating in a gallery.
- "It's doing something." Implies you know what, without the risk of saying.
- "I'm sitting with it." Suggests a relationship too profound for words, or for opinions.
- "I like it." Reserved for emergencies, small children, and the privacy of one's own home.
Our Official Position
We are not against liking things. We are against being caught liking things, which is different, and far more important. Feel free to enjoy our gallery enormously. We simply ask that you do so with the guarded expression of a person who has seen a great deal and been impressed by very little.
The Committee, who find this dispatch interesting