The search for meaning in a painting is a manifestation of a desire to connect more completely to our experience. But sometimes our zealous searching after meanings suggests an inability to simply accept the presence of the image and its expression. I try to begin my interpretive relationship with an image by accepting it for what it is. This is particularly helpful when I am puzzled about "what a picture means." Rather than try to explain the picture, I relax with it and look more completely.
— Shaun McNiff, Art Heals