week one reading synopsis

The reading assignment for this week focused on the critique and how the principles of Gestalt theories subconsciously affect our perceptions.

Gestalt theories show how the human mind fills in the gaps left in our day to day lives and how that bleeds over into our perceptions of art.  Closure, continuation, similarity and proximity are the fundamental principals.  Each of these elements or a combination there of, helps us to make sense of the world around us.  In art however these laws of perception can cloud the judgment and understanding of a work.  If an artist has a firm understanding of these fundamentals he can use them to shape the way the viewer perceives his work.  In this way one can use the nature or perception to communicate on a leaving that none visual mediums never can.

The important aspects of the critique are discussed in much detail, things such as the importance of line, shape, form, color and the difference between abstraction and realistic representation.  Line, for example, is spoken of as the most basic of all forms of mark making.  I happen to disagree with this statement simply because the dot or point would, to me, seem more rudimentary than the line.  Regardless, the author delves into the elements of the line and how it has meaning.  Lines are made all the time by more than just mankind, animals make lines every day.  So what is the difference between those marks made by nature and beast and those made by the conscious man?  Meaning.  In short the answer is the meaning behind the mark and how it is conveyed by the artist.  For example, a thin hesitant line with all the stops and starts of an unsure hand tells a different story than a bold flat line made by the confident one.  In this way meanings can be discerned by even the simplest of marks.   

The author goes on to show how even the names of style should be considered; as in that of abstraction.  The meaning of abstraction is much different than what is has come to mean.  While the layman thinks of abstraction as meaningless forms made carelessly for no other reason than to heightens one’s own ego by giving meaning to what is meaningless, when the root of the word is studied the true nature of the word is revealed.  The Latin root of the modern English word abstraction means to take away, with this in mind one can make the leap to understanding that the artist is not  necessarily making a nonrepresentational work but a representation of an image broken down into its basic elements. 

With these things in mind we can see how one must consider even the most seemingly insignificant and subconscious characteristics of a work to truly grasp what the artist is saying.