Hume and His "Taste"

I found Hume's viewpoint of taste to be interesting, but very selective. His essay of sorts defines the perfect man - - the perfect person to critique artwork and be the ultimate judge as to whether or not it is "tasteful." In my opinion, I do not feel that one person is the "right" person to judge artwork and the artist. No one person in the world has experience in all of the areas that could possibly be painted, so how will they be able to understand the artist's viewpoint, background, reason behind the painting? They won't and that should not be the only way that someone is allowed to make a judgment regarding whether or not the painting is "tasteful".

There is one part of Hume's criteria that I do agree with though. He states that, "before we can give judgment on any work of importance, it will even be requisite, that that very individual performance be more than once perused by us, and be surveyed in different lights with attention and deliberation. There is a flutter or hurry of thought which attends the first perusal of any piece, and which confounds the genuine sentiment of beauty." Too often, I feel that people judge artwork too quickly, without giving thought to the many ways in which it can be interpreted. A person can enjoy a painting at first glance, but to truly judge if it is a "work of art" one must spend the time looking at it from different angles and in different lighting. It is then that we can see the painting as the artist saw it during creation and at that point, it can be judged as tasteful or untasteful.

As far as the two paintings posted, I feel that I can form an opinion on whether or not I enjoy looking at each, but not on the basis of whether or not I think they are tasteful. At first glance, I find the first of the monkey enjoyable to look at despite its uniqueness. However, the second painting is a bit creepy to me - - the head of the man takes up nearly the entire space and his face reminds me of a serial killer sort. As far as whether each of these paintings should be considered tasteful, I do not feel that I can be an appropriate judge. I am only viewing these paintings online, with no ability to look at the way the light hits the canvas or the chance to see it from another angle. I cannot interpret the artists' intentions behind these two paintings and to me that is the ultimate test as to whether or not the subject and subsequent painting should be considered tasteful.