"I think we have to," Matt says. He notes in passing that the gentleman didn't answer the question, but he doesn't think much of it. Conversations tend to take their own branching paths. "I mean ... I return to the same piece of art years later, or days later, and find new things in it, so clearly I'm bringing some part of myself into conversation with the work."

In conversation with is one of those handy phrases that conveys a lot through very few words. In this case, it conveys I have a bachelor's degree.

"And by the same token, I think really good art has some quality in it that invites that. Inspires yearning, or a reaching-out, or something like that."