Question

Which is a good guideline to follow when evaluating art?
Stand by your immediate emotional response.
Begin by forming an opinion of the artist.
Study the artist’s background.

Answer 1

I think When a few of my classmates do critiques, we generally go for option B,
Option A wouldn't essentially work when the main question is evaluating the art, it could work but it would still lead you back to option B.

Sometimes not all the artists are known, For instance, you can see an artwork at a gallery by a student or a local and yet not know who he/she is.

However, something you could do is evaluate the artwork based on the composition and elements of art that it possess.

If for instance I look at a painting with warm color, it could make me calm, happy, or amused. Like i said option A goes back to B.

It all goes to why do you think the artist created what he,she did. Why the colors, the shape, the subject, space, why, why why?? :) What do you think based on what you see?

I look at painting with a sunset ,and a land, maybe he's a landscape artist, maybe he was interesting in capturing the state of nature, maybe his artwork represents a point of his life on which he settled for simple natural environment.