Interpretation...is it valid critique?

[milo]

"So is art purely subjective?"
Yes.

"I’m sorry, it isn’t. I know it’s a golden little dream that feels warm
and cuddly when we hold onto it, but it simply isn’t true."
When I look at paintings of sharks or war atrocities, I somehow
don't feel warm and cuddly.

"one’s reaction to art IS purely subjective."
One's reaction to an object is (or isn't) the art.
The object has physical attributes, we're the ones
who perceive it (or not) as art.

"But one’s opinion or enjoyment of something does not affect the work itself."
Yes, whether I think the painting is art or not certainly doesn't affect
the painting.

"It is possible for art to be good or bad; even more so it is possible for
art to be better or worse."
The painting just sits there, it's you who decide how 'good' or 'bad'
you think it is. Many great artists say with great certainty that
the work of another great artists is terrible. There's no way to explain
these opinions objectively.

"And the more extreme the difference, the easier it is to tell. If I draw a
little sketch, that sketch is not as good as a Picasso piece. Even if my
mom looks at it and loves it, it isn’t better. It is worse. It’s OK for my
mom to like it more; that is her subjective opinion. But it would be silly
of her to try to objectively claim it was better. It isn’t. That is a fact.
I don’t know how to draw. Every technical aspect would be worse.
Every creative aspect would be worse. Is my mom stupid for liking mine
more? No. Do I look down on her? No. But is my piece better?
Absolutely not."

That fact that art is subjective is what makes it possible for you to
judge it. That you belong to a large group (including myself) that
share the same criteria for 'good' doesn't make our criteria better
or worse than any other.

'Objectivity' is just another way we flatter ourselves;
it's a delusion created by our hubris.

This reminds me of another funny cliché "everything is subjective"

Really? If that is true than nothing is subjective, as the word only exists to describe a state.

Carry on.