Why art matters more without the story

Great Grandfather’s Cart — award-winning watercolour by Katarina Miletic

Most art today comes with a story pre-attached. Context, explanation, narrative — often before you’ve had a chance to look. I’m not interested in that.

My award-winning painting Great Grandfather’s Cart does not exist to tell a story. It does not explain its history or ask the viewer to feel a certain way about the past. It simply allows the object to be seen as it is, where it stands, without instruction.

This runs against how much art is currently presented. We are encouraged to consume images quickly, to understand them immediately, to move on once the meaning has been delivered. Storytelling helps with that. It closes the loop too quickly.

Seeing does the opposite. It keeps the work open.

The cart in this painting is not elevated through nostalgia or sentimentality. It is given dignity by restraint. Nothing is added to make it more palatable or emotionally legible. The viewer is trusted to meet it without mediation from the artist.

This is not an image designed for consumption. It doesn’t exhaust itself on first encounter. It asks to be lived with, returned to, allowed to deepen over time.

Collectors who respond to work like this are not looking for an explanation. They recognise and value continuity and the present-time relevance of their chosen art piece.

I am not interested in turning paintings into stories that can be consumed and set aside. I am interested in making work that holds its ground — work that remains present without insisting on attention.

Seeing is enough.

Everything else is optional.