Our mind is programed to
try to make sense of things.
In this post I want to
bring to your attention the potential damage in expressing what you
think you see when it comes to an abstract piece of art.
I know I am guilty of it
myself. I remember when I was a kid, we had a very interesting
abstract painting with a lot of fabric fibers to create the textures
and a lot of different colors. To me, it was like a trip to the
jungle, I saw a tiger in there, lizards, dogs, cats, every time
something different.. But it was all in my imagination, not what the
piece was really about or intended to be.
Even not that long ago, I
visited a gallery and saw a big piece, which to me looked like a very
comical scene of a huge elephant running through a city scape in the
night. The title of the painting was “Tyranny of the corner bowl
set”, taking that into consideration, one might think it actually
had nothing to do with elephants. Looking at that painter's other
pieces, the elephant shape kept repeating itself, so it might have
been about an elephant after all...
There is the element of a
painting being text, and once the artist is done with it, it is an
open text for everyone to read the way they want or can read it. So
in a way it is out of control.
What I want to talk about,
is somewhat different. From a personal point of view I'm not trying
to abstract any narrative shapes, and when someone says to me about
my piece “hey! There is a cat in there!” I can't not see it and
it makes me want to erase it, paint it over, cover it up... make it
disappear.
So I believe such things
are better to be kept to yourself. In most cases I can easily not
even pay any attention and give them the full freedom to see and
imagine what they want... But in extreme cases it can be somewhat
annoying and it will bug me till I do something about it.
I'm going to give a few
examples from my own work that pretty much failed in that aspect.
One of the older ones..
The clown.
When I finished it, my
mother said to me “I see a clown in there, look at that big red
nose.. oh! And he is sticking out his tongue, what an amusing
piece”... What was to me a very interesting use of different shapes
in a composition, became a weird face of a clown, and I am not a big
fan of clowns.
Deep Rift
Consuming Fire
Sometimes in the early
stages, things can still be fixed.
So in one of the first
layers I found him.. Can you see him? Well, I called him the cookie
warrior...
About 4 more layers later,
I'm glad to say he is gone.
So the next time you see
something that might have not be intended to be there, think twice
before pointing it out... In one of my classes we were forbidden
from saying anything of that sort to our fellow students. The
painting can mean anything you want to you, see what ever you want in
it, but don't always point that out to the painter.
And if you are an abstract painter like me and wish to avoid those "obvious" objects being in your paintings, consult with someone with good imagination before your piece is complete.
This is something I've had to think about a lot with my abstract paintings, too. I'm still undecided whether I think it's a cool thing or not. After I finished this painting: http://evenstar785.deviantart.com/art/Untitled-6-135521994 someone pointed out the figure in it that I'd had no intention of painting there originally. It actually took me quite awhile to see it, but now I can't un-see it. I don't know if I like it or not. I can always just hang the piece upside down, like you said.
ReplyDeleteI think that when ever people start seeing things in your work, it's their way of understanding it, making it their own in a way... Something that shouldn't worry you...
DeleteIt's that moment when you start seeing it, and the idea you had about it before gets lost, then it becomes a problem..
Hanging things upside down sadly does not fix it for you, it will only distract others from seeing it in the future.
Thank you so much for commenting!
I followed you from deviantart...*cough*, I can totally see the clown once you pointed it out and I so do not like clowns.
ReplyDeleteI do love the "yellow fish" one tho :)