Great art has always been open to interpretation. It contains within itself something that allows the audience to feel a connection with the art, and with the creator. The greatest works appeal to so many because they connect in countless and diverse ways.

Art offers a medium which can give both communication with others and confrontation with the self. (Laing 1974)

While Laing was right, he failed to mention that the two are entirely disparate things. When art is taken in, something within us feels it at a profound level, tying a part of us with the piece, visualizing a part of our life. This is a wondrous thing for the audience because each person can be touched in a different way from a single piece. But this can be disastrous for the artist when people, especially critics, characterize the work to mean things that were never the artist's intention, but are only how it connects with them.

Some people request that artists explain their work, or give the artist's interpretation of it, but this removes the beauty and the personal feeling from the art. This is similar to watching a movie as opposed to reading a book. When you read a book, you create in your own mind the imagery that is described in the words, creating the world in your head and seeing how you perceive the story to be. But, when you watch a movie, the imagery is already shown to you, forcing you to see the story through the movie director's eyes, instead of your own. This takes away much of the depth and beauty of the piece, and makes it a static thing, less open to interpretation.

This is not to say that your connection with a piece is not exactly how the artist envisioned it, but only that it is highly likely that your view may be slightly different, or completely at odds with the original vision of the artist, and you should not impose your vision on someone else's work.

Enjoy art for what it is, the beauty that you find within it, but don't try to place your opinion in the artist's head.

Infinately many monkeys with infinitely many typewriters would not be able to produce the works of Shakespeare, because it is art - it is unique.