"The way we see things is affected by what we know or what we believe" quote by John Berger from his book, Ways of Seeing(click)
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| The Key to Dreams Marcel Duchamp from google image |
That is a powerful statement. Think about it a moment. We readily accept what we see as real, it is what we see it is...or so we think. But we all are raised differently in different environments and with different beliefs. How much does this effect the way we see? A great deal is the answer.
In the Middle Ages people believed literally in the existence of hell, so as Berger puts it, fire must have had a very different meaning for them. Fire, ashes, and flame were literal images of hell if you can imagine. What we see as reality today, would be very different if we were viewing it through a different set of filters in, say 2212.
If,( as Marcel Duchamp did) we put a picture of one thing and call it another, which are we perceiving that it is? It is the same as when one is in love, that person is the most beautiful person to us, we transform them into a vision no words can match. Our beliefs and emotions color what we see. In some cultures a black cat is good luck and in others bad luck...is some cultures black is associated with death and in others it is white. Here is another small example...I grew up in Florida where we have black ants that bite and really hurt. When living in the Philippines I am sitting on a beach and get covered with black ants. I jump up in horror and start killing them and screaming....my friend looked me quizzically and somewhat amused and ask me why I was doing that, those ants don't harm, they don't bite! It turns out the Filipino black ants don't hurt you at all, but look the same as the Florida ones that do! My environment colored what I saw and I my reaction to what I saw.
So when we look at a work of art we bring our experiences and perceptions to it. The artist also brings theirs. Berger says every image embodies a way of seeing. Even in a photograph, the photographer chooses the angle, the focus, the and his choice of subject matter is reflected in his choice of subject matter. And if you think deeper about it every image is in a way man made. Berger goes into great depth about how we see and perceive things. It is a very interesting and deeply thoughtful book, but not an easy read.
Duchamp was a Surrealist, it was a time of Freud and analyzing dreams, interpreting our interpersonal relationships differently and how people related to the times they lived in. It was also during a time of great turmoil when one questioned reality at all.
You may not like Surrealism, it may not be pretty or comfortable, but Duchamp was brilliant...he used art to help us think deeply about the world we live in, what we accepted as reality and what we thought of as art. Art is not always about pretty or copying. But now you must also ask yourself when you do look at a photo or painting is it what I see or is it what the artists brought forth with his own ideas about what flowers look like, or a landscape or a portrait. Now you must look deeper and question more. Questioning is not alway comfortable, it knocks us out of our status quo, it doesn't let us off easy...but it challenges us to think and grow.
Marcel Duchamp even asks us, "What is Art?" with the creation of R. Mutt.
In the Middle Ages people believed literally in the existence of hell, so as Berger puts it, fire must have had a very different meaning for them. Fire, ashes, and flame were literal images of hell if you can imagine. What we see as reality today, would be very different if we were viewing it through a different set of filters in, say 2212.
If,( as Marcel Duchamp did) we put a picture of one thing and call it another, which are we perceiving that it is? It is the same as when one is in love, that person is the most beautiful person to us, we transform them into a vision no words can match. Our beliefs and emotions color what we see. In some cultures a black cat is good luck and in others bad luck...is some cultures black is associated with death and in others it is white. Here is another small example...I grew up in Florida where we have black ants that bite and really hurt. When living in the Philippines I am sitting on a beach and get covered with black ants. I jump up in horror and start killing them and screaming....my friend looked me quizzically and somewhat amused and ask me why I was doing that, those ants don't harm, they don't bite! It turns out the Filipino black ants don't hurt you at all, but look the same as the Florida ones that do! My environment colored what I saw and I my reaction to what I saw.
So when we look at a work of art we bring our experiences and perceptions to it. The artist also brings theirs. Berger says every image embodies a way of seeing. Even in a photograph, the photographer chooses the angle, the focus, the and his choice of subject matter is reflected in his choice of subject matter. And if you think deeper about it every image is in a way man made. Berger goes into great depth about how we see and perceive things. It is a very interesting and deeply thoughtful book, but not an easy read.
Duchamp was a Surrealist, it was a time of Freud and analyzing dreams, interpreting our interpersonal relationships differently and how people related to the times they lived in. It was also during a time of great turmoil when one questioned reality at all.
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| R. Mutt 1917 Marcel Duchamp from google image |
Marcel Duchamp even asks us, "What is Art?" with the creation of R. Mutt.
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