William Eggleston

William Eggleston is an interesting artist. My first impression of him was that he was a weird, dramatic, hermit type of artist. In the article I read in the magazine Aperture, he was introduced at his house by a writer and he welcomed the writer with an eerie, "I've been waiting for you." This gave me the chills but I encouraged myself to continue reading because there may be something more interesting. Eggleston way of interpreting art is very different. He mentions that he prefers to listen to music at half-speed in order to hear everything clearly. Eggleston said that people do not listen to such great musicians as J.S. Bach correctly and suggests that you can clearly listen and enjoy the music at half-speed. I thought this was interesting because for me to enjoy a piece of music, I prefer to listen to it more than once so I can hear it the way it is supposed to be played. After reading the article, I feel that to enjoy music, listening to the song slower would not only allow you to have some connection with the artist as the music was being written, but you could also enjoy each sound and instrument more.

I also thought it was interesting how after he prints he looks at his images upside-down because he says, "I always notice something I wouldn't otherwise see." After reading this, it made me think to myself that I should try it because I would see things in the image that I would not notice. It is almost as if I would be looking at a completely different image, so I would see something different.

Eggleston also said that he does not always have an "up" direction in his drawings. He says that he draws at different angles and does not always have a specific way of drawing every time. I liked this because it keeps all the drawings abstract and lets the mind interpret it in anyway that it wants. He also does not respond to people when they ask him what a drawing or a picture is supposed to be of because he wants everybody to have their own experience when looking at an image. I like this because if you name a picture, you do not allow the person to see it in any other light subconsciously. If a person looks at an image with a title, the person will be looking for a theme with the title in it so that he or she can understand the image. Eggleston believes that whatever way that a person interprets art is the best way to understand the image, and I agree with it.