I know you don’t want to hear “it depends,” but there is no one rule that would cover all art. Some art is made to communicate specific ideas. Some art is made simply out of self-expression, without intent for any particular audience. Both are valid.

If I doodle in my notebook, it’s for the artist (me.) However, I also draw and paint to communicate specific emotions. I made a painting while listening to “September” by Earth, Wind and Fire, with the intent to capture the energy and joy the song sends through me. I don’t expect anyone to immediately connect the image with the specific song, but since it’s a lively concert scene, my hope is that the emotion that inspired the art comes across to an audience.

Sometimes I’ll make something more abstract, intentionally left open to interpretation. I may have my own thoughts about such pieces, but ultimately I want the viewer to find their own meaning.

In reality, everything is up to the audience. There will always be people who interpret things in their own way, independent of the artist’s intentions. We can’t control what others will think, but learning to tolerate and/or accept people who “don’t get it” is a stage all artists have to go through. I’ve come to accept that there is no one perfect mode of communication, so if I intend to communicate something specific, it’s on me as the artist to put effort into making that message clear.

Both, but ultimately audience is more important since they are more numerous. Also there are works of art we seen with very little context know of their creation.

The viewer, the artist can try as they might to convey a message, but it’s up to the audience to see it

Yeah, definitely. Their interpretations may not completely match, but they’re both involved in it.

Audience. It doesn’t matter what an artist intends if it is not perceived in that way. It’s up to the creator to make the audience perceive something.

A work can have multiple meanings, even unintended meanings. It can even have no intended meaning.

Its creators define its intended meaning, if any. Valid interpretations can create other meaning from it.

I believe the creator determines it and the audience interprets it. Possibly in multiple ways, including some that the artist may have never thought of or intended.

Relies 100% in the author. It’s the one who says “yeah, it mean this” or “yea, it means what you think it does mean”

Yes.