Reflecting on my work, in the past, it was more aligned with romanticism layered with social realism. Combining those elements that are “seen,” then fashioning and ordering them in a way that seeks to make them memorable and newly discovered. Now my work more aligns with the conceptual ideology of making something that was once invisible, visible. See this article, “When Contemporary Art Feels Too Inaccessible.” This is a great way to describe what an idea is.
Conceptualism, as practiced in the post-war period, set before itself the task of making the invisible visible, of demystifying art as a process and a product of social relations. — Ksenya Gurshtein
More importantly, an opportunity for the artist and viewer to interact in a new way. You could say, this puts more responsibility on the viewer—or not. I would say the responsibility still lies with the work itself to represent a realm of thought, while the artist is fully aware a person may pass by the work unengaged. One thought I have is that a work of art is completed by the viewer.
Conceptual Art, contemporary art, effectively summarized in this Portlandia skit.
As an artist who peddles in ideas vs. beautiful objects, my experience in showing new work and getting thoughtful feedback is very much of what this is all about. The newly formed thoughts and surprising topics for discussion which are arrived at while discussing the work is one of the main features of working this way. Ambiguous alignment of images, sort of like a rebus, but with an open-ended result help to encounter unintentional perceptions.