Wrapped up

I'm being taught two different ways of thinking about the meaning of texts from the Bible and it ties in with themes I've thought about here a number of times (now handily tagged 'reality'). On the one hand, I am told to do critical historical, social and anthropological study of the context of the story, to discover what the author meant in their context. On the other hand, I am invited to sit with a story in a more lectio divina style, see how it reads me, in a sense, see what it connects with, without necessarily knowing or minding about the original socio-historical context. Which is the real meaning? Well, both I suppose, in their way.
Today I was talking with a friend of mine who is an artist and we were talking about this piece by Felix Gonzalez-Torres. It consists of a pile of candy in the corner of a room.

The visitor is welcome to take a piece of candy, and the pile is regularly restocked. It's quite famous but if you haven't seen it before it can elicit a variety of reactions as we try to make meaning out of it. We know it's art so we figure it must have a meaning. We might think about why it's there, or try to think what it reminds us of, other images that connect. So then we have our meaning as we find a place for it in our minds.
Then we might learn the history of the piece. The artist created it in memory of his partner who died of AIDS. The pile of candy weighs 175 lbs, his partner's ideal body weight and by taking a piece of candy, this illustrates his loss of weight prior to his death, while replenishing the colourful pile gives him a sense of immortality. This is part of the artist's meaning, the 'historically-situated' meaning, that nevertheless still has a deep sense of meaning today. It makes the pile of candy make sense because we're given a reason. It makes it a more rational act but also more heartfelt at the same time.
Both meanings are valid, and I'm interested in this crossover in so many areas, these two ways to think about reality, about meaning.
My friend said that she thinks art is mostly about attentiveness, and I think that's probably what draws these meanings together, that's how different truths can communicate.