TPT: But, what is it?

Ok, so here's my follow up to the BAD art post I did last week. I was still thinking about it after the fact. In my opinion, art serves at least two functions (I didn't think past two). One is for the creator, the other is for the "beholder." I think the artist fulfills his/her needs by creating...and the viewer fulfills his/her need by interpreting/relating. I don't think it's important to understand what the artist meant when creating the artwork to be able to find something to relate to in each piece. Often, this is why I don't explain to you what I intended to do. Shoot, sometimes I experience my art from both ends of the spectrum. Almost everything I produce is different than how I imagined or intended it to be. So the feeling I get when I create is often not the feeling that I get when I finally get to view my work outside of my head. I'm not big on trying to understand what the artist meant, though I've often made a game of it. Isn't it fun to guess? To create your own story? To make it your own? Especially if you're going to keep it in your home. You want the story to be about a lover's passion and not a bloody mass suicide. Well, maybe. *shrugs* No answer is more right than another if the artist has chosen not to make a statement in regard to that particular piece. However, I am growing to understand how an explanation could be important when trying to grasp an understanding of a piece, especially things like dirt on the carpet.