On Web Quizzes

[unixronin]

I am particularly referencing here this OKCupid quiz, "What Your Taste in Art Says About You".  The quiz shows you 36 paintings, in twelve sets of three, and asks you to pick the one you like best of each set of three.  It then purports to analyze your tastes in art, and the meaning thereof, on this basis.

Go ahead, take the test.  I'll wait.

Agree with your score?  (This is mine, by the way.)

There's a problem with this, as there is on many such quizzes.  (I know, I know; it's OKCupid, what am I expecting, a scholarly work?  Sure, point taken.  Work with me here a little.)

You see, there's an important piece of information that the quiz never actually asks, but should probably ask on every set:  "Do you actually like ANY of these?"  In my case, out of 36 works, there are three that I actually like¹, and four more that I'm sort of OK with but probably wouldn't hang on a wall unless I really badly wanted something, anything that wasn't actually actively hideous, to fill a particular empty space.  The other 29?  If I bought a house, moved in and found them hanging on the walls, I'd drop them off at Goodwill the next day.

Sure, there are quite a few works in there (largely the Renaissance ones) that are unquestionably of good technical merit, but I find their subject matter utterly uninteresting.  (And I've always considered one of the crowning achievements of the Impressionist movement to be the creation of portraits and life scenes as totally devoid of any sense of interest, meaning, or life as their beloved still-lifes.  Still life with aubergine.  Still life with two aubergines.  Still life with three aubergines.  Still life with five aubergines, two children and a small dog.  Oh merciful Cthulhu, kill me now.)

The inherent design flaw with a quiz like this is that it's a bit like asking whether you'd prefer to have your hands flayed, your kneecaps smashed, your eyes gouged out, or your testicles crushed, and then concluding from your answer that you're into self-mutilation.

[1]  For the curious:  The ukiyoe portrait on page 1, the carp on page 3, and the Maxfield Parrish-style landscape on page 9, and I'm sort of OK with the first two on page 5, the Islamic tribal tiger on page 8, and maybe the middle piece on page 10.  Several pages I didn't actually mark anything at all on, because there wasn't a single piece on the page that's not horrendous.

Comments

[ithildae]

I get substantially the same result. I am the first to admit that I just don't get visual art. I find most of it unacceptable or pointless. (Unacceptable means it inspires emotions of loathing. Art is supposed to inspire emotion, right?) This stuff just doesn't touch me in any meaningful way.

Elegant code on the other hand, is a thing of beauty to experience. Some engineering solutions are just breathtaking, simple, wonderful. I can do music. Clean patterns of thought with a clear solution to a problem. That is the art that inspires me most.

Mine:

[lebo-superman.livejournal.com]

Your result for What Your Taste in Art Says About You Test...

Simple, Progressive, and Sensual

27 Ukiyo-e, 6 Islamic, 11 Impressionist, -23 Cubist, -30 Abstract and 18 Renaissance!

Ukiyo-e (浮世絵, Ukiyo-e), "pictures of the floating world", is a genre of Japaneseand paintings produced between the 17th and the 20th centuries. it mostly featured landscapes, historic tales, theatre, and pleasure. Ukiyo is a rather impetuous urban culture that has bloomed in popularity. Although the Japanese were more strict and had many prohibitions it did not affect the rising merchant class and therefore became a floating art form that did not bind itself to the normal ideals of society.

People that chose Ukiyo-e art tend to be more simplistic yet elegant. They don't care much about new style but are comfortable in creating their own. They like the idea of living for the moment and enjoy giving and receiving pleasure. They may be more agreeable than other people and do not like to argue. They do not mind following traditions but are not afraid to move forward to experience other ideas in life. They tend to enjoy nature and the outdoors. They do not mind being more adventurous in their sexual experiences. They enjoy being popular and like being noticed. They have their own unique style of dress and of presenting themselves. They may also tend to be more business oriented or at the very least interested in money making adventures. They might make good entrepreneurs. They are progressive and adaptable.

Take What Your Taste in Art Says About You Test at HelloQuizzy

[docstrange.livejournal.com]

My results change each time I take it. There are some pieces in the test that I would love to stare at in a gallery, but no way would I have them on my wall.

Then there were some triplets that, as you say, were like picking which wrapping paper I would prefer.

[mrakg.livejournal.com]

I ended up in the same category you did. I even did the quiz before reading more of your comments. For several of the trios, my thought was "may I have a blank wall instead?"

[hannahsarah.livejournal.com]

You made me LOL IRL! This is the type of subject that needs a good bottle of port, good friends and conversation until the wee hours of the morning.

I consider "art" to be a creation that makes you think - but lots of art I find terribly unattractive and undecorative, yet emotionally moving and powerful. Things that I hang on my wall might make me go "Oooh, pretty!" but also be quite boring from an intellectual standpoint.

Also, there was no option for "beige". I like beige. It looks good on walls.