Ah, our Miller comes out swinging against the modernists on the list! What a nice distum: "The more compelling the image, the less important the frame". What nonsense. After all, what is the image? For a painter the image is the whole work, the positive and negative space. For Miller it's only the that part of the image he can name with a noun, signifying its possible existence outside the painting and as a language-based entity. Take a look at the Mona Lisa. A compelling image of a woman, yes. But why? Now look at the background and see how the horizon is at different levels on each side of woman's face. Without realizing it the two horizons invisibly meet at different levels at the mouth and thus we are "unconsciously" struggling with a resolution and project all sorts of mysteries on the mouth. Turn the work upside down and see how much the image of the woman is affected by the negative space.
One of the first lessons in snapshot photography is framing the image. How many bad snapshots have you seen or made where some object in the distance seems to project from the main subject's head or nose? Most amateur photographers quickly lern to look at the whole image, not just the main subject. Why? Because in the 2-d world, all patterns are on the same plane. The "compelling" image is the whole work. If Miller still thinks otherwise, he should imagine this text as all jammed together without any negative spaces separating words. WC --- On Fri, 10/3/08, Chris Miller <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > From: Chris Miller <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: Perceptual Cropping was Marks on Canvas > To: [email protected] > Date: Friday, October 3, 2008, 9:54 AM > The more compelling the image, the less important the frame > -- and if a > painting is large enough (wall size)or long enough (scroll > size) the framing > becomes irrevelant when standing close enough to make sense > of the image. > > So while the first mark on a canvas should be considered > the fifth mark in > some kinds of painting -- in others, it's still just > the first mark. > (i.e. the edges are there - but like everything else in > the room while the > painting is being made, they're not very important) > > Why is this so difficult for our two modernistas to > comprehend ? > > Despite the diversity allowed by post-modernism -- they > still assert > that there are two ways to make and view visual art: their > way and the wrong > way. > > (and it doesn't seem like that narrowness of view is > shared by the modernistas > of music or literature. It's a unique characteristic > of the visual artworld > -- along with the almost religious fervor of proclamation, > revelation, and > hysterical denunciation) > > > > > > > > > > One should understand that the most important aspect of the > picture frame and > or edges of the canvas is to delimit perceptual space in > order to heighten > awareness of the thing itself - isolate it, to some degree, > from its > surroundings. > > This technique of delimiting perceptual space (perceptual > cropping) is > probably as old as human consciousness and is useful in all > the visual arts > including architecture. > > ____________________________________________________________ > Stuck in a dead end job?? Click to start living your dreams > by earning an > online degree. > http://thirdpartyoffers.netzero.net/TGL2231/fc/Ioyw6ijmibprlr5oyAc4E98isgiou1 > 1pShWiElzaRiiwcpKVO0k8T6/
