Week 9 Phenomenology

 

Prototype - Alex Mercer by offrecord on DeviantArt

    In the weeks reading we talked about, Meaning, Identity, and Embodiment. How are previous experiences affect how we see and understand meanings of objects. Of course, this applies to everything not just art. Everything we do we interpret it in many ways. According to Amelia Jones, she states, "It is not enough, then, to understand the social and cultural effects of visual imagery purely in terms of a disembodied structure of the "gaze." Humans interact with the world through our five senses. Touch, Smell, Hearing, Taste, and of course sight. And if anyone of these things don't like the feeling, we tend to not like it. For example, if a food dish smells bad you probably won't eat it even if it's the best tasting thing in the world. Or if you touch a hot stove, you'll burn yourself and probably not do it again. So, when it comes to art, it is hard to judge a piece off of sight alone.

    Of course, we don't just use are senses has well we also use are pass experiences. For example, the image above paints the character has sort of evil. His hood cast a shadow over his face darking his eyes. Black inky tendrils rise from his body and morph it into different shapes. The character above looks dark and evil like a villain. But the character is from a game know has Prototype and he is the main character/hero of the game. If you didn't know that or yet to play the game, he can be seen as a villain of some type. But he tries to save the city and ends up doing it too. Your pass experiences with seeing villain character will make you see him has a dark character.

                                                Halcyon by awanqi on DeviantArt

        Another Example of our past experiences affecting our view of the world is the image, above. If you don’t get out often or don’t fish, then this image may not feel or look like anything special to you. But if you often go out and maybe fish then you may be able to relate to this image. I personally remember camping with my grandparents, either fishing myself or watching my grandpa and father fishing. I would be drawing with the sun beaming down on me. The birds singing over head with the wind blowing through the area. Of course, from my experiences this is how I see this image. But maybe you have different experiences with fishing. Perhaps you only river fish, so you wouldn’t have had much experience with lake fishing like in the picture. Lake fishing tends to be a little bit more passive than river fishing.

          This Is something that can’t really get taught in school, and it isn’t something you can control of your viewers. Everyone will see your image in different ways and you probably won’t be able to make everyone happy either. You should just stick with your style of art whatever that may be and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.