Planes of Analysis Flashcards
study of signs
Semiotics
_________________ = iconic or pictorial sign consisting of the signifier (material/physical aspect) and the signified (nonmaterial aspect as concept and value)
Work of art
object as it exists in the real world
Referent
physical or material marks or traces, elements, figures, and notations
Signifiers
concepts and values suggested by the relationship of the signifiers
Signifieds
Elements and the general technical and physical aspects of the work with their semantic meaning-conveying potential:
____________________ (line, value, color, texture, shape, composition in space, movement) and how they are used; must be viewed in a highly relational manner and not isolated or compartmentalized
Visual elements
Elements and the general technical and physical aspects of the work with their semantic meaning-conveying potential:
______________________- handmade paper with organic allure, irregularities of texture, uneven edges; signifies uniquely personal, human and intimate against the mass produced standard paper; on technique, other valorize spontaneity and the play of chance or accident; others emphasize order and control
Choice of medium and technique
Elements and the general technical and physical aspects of the work with their semantic meaning-conveying potential:
_____________________ – contemporary art: not purely conventional but laden with meaning; square: order and precision
Other physical properties and marks – notations, traces, textural features, marks (random or intentional)
Format of the work
Sources of semantic or meaning-conveying potential of elements of visual arts:
(psychological and physical/sensory) commonly shared ; intellectual and emotional associations that go with light of day and night, warmth and cold, weight and gravity, relative distance, pleasure, and pain
human psychophysical experiences
_________________: orientation and quality (thick, thin; density and porosity, regularity or irregularity; use of tech pen and stick of a charcoal – signify different set of values and concepts
On LINE
Sense of tonal values derive from our ____________________ of a cycle of day and night , warmth and cold, weight and gravity, even and uneven pressure on a surface
experience
__________________ = general meaning of an artwork
Shared experiences
_________: optimism
_________: mystery, melancholy, respite
Dawn;
Night
Sources of semantic or meaning-conveying potential of elements of visual arts:
Social codes and symbolic systems shared by members of society or group – color
sociocultural conventions of society and period (Matejka and Titunik 1976)
Semantic inflections: mourning: black -_______, white-________
West; East
Meaning is produced from interplay of the signifiers of the work (_____________,1974):
Saussure
Other signifiers or conveyors of meaning are: dimension, format, medium, frame, techniques
TRUE
The ___________________, or the Image Itself
Iconic Plane
Part of the semiotic approach, also based on the signifier and the signified
Iconic Plane
NOT on the material elements but has to do with the particular features, aspects, and qualities of the image which are second-level signifiers .
Iconic Plane
___________=iconic sign
Image
Focuses on the unique, particular, and highly-nuanced meaning different from a conventional sign.
Iconic Plane
Includes choice of the subject – may bear social and political implications time?
Iconic Plane
___________________________through facial expression, body language, costume and accessories, natural and social background; Peers or dominance/subordination? friendly, ironic, aggressive, hostile relationship?
Human figure –Subject-viewer relationship
_________________ of figure(s) frontal, profile—centered or decentered? Asymmetrical? formal or casual? Stance of the central figure: poised, relaxed, indifferent, provocative, or aloof?; importance given into the character? Costume and accessories? Setting – natural, social, or domestic? Scaling? bearing in the meaning? (Tampuhan, 1895 by Luna); direction of the gaze?—impt in describing pictorial space
POSITIONING
massed, isolated, or juxtaposed in terms of affinity or contrast; may be in temporal sequence to constitute a narrative ; simultaneous aspects of reality; serial images: Andy Warhol’s Campbell Soup cans – on blatant consumerism of advanced capitalist societies
Relationship of figures
a re-presentation or interpretation of the world, a world view, if not ideology classical figuration—ideal (proportion of 71/2 to 8 heads to the entire figure; realist – keen observation of people, nature, and society ; impressionist figuration – fluid and informal, catching the subject unaware like a candid camera; expressionists – follows emotional impulses and drives; involves distortion and clashing colors from strong emotion
STYLE OF FIGURATION
Social and historical
Contextual Plane
Brings about human and social implications of the work
Contextual Plane
Draws out dialogic relationship between art and society
Contextual Plane
Art involves ____________ or learning; an important way of learning about people, life, and society.”; expand our knowledge of reality? Insightful of the world and transformative?
cognition; Contextual Plane
Calls upon knowledge of society’s history and its economic, political, and cultural conditions; comes with knowledge of national and world art and literatures, mythologies, philosophies, and different culture and world views; with references and allusions to historical figures and events, religious, literary, and philosophical ideas and values
Contextual Plane
Symbolic systems, which are culture bound come into play – color, shape, design, cultural symbols associated with the belief system
Contextual Plane
Values found in abstract art: spontaneity against discipline and order, mystery and elusiveness against clear definition, informality against formal, transitoriness against permanence : viewed in the light of the intellectual trends of the time
Contextual Plane
Situates the work in the personal and social circumstances of its production – allusion to personal and public events, conditions, stages, as well as influences (such as persons and literary texts) that have been particularly meaningful to the artist from which themes and subthemes may be derived; biographical data
Contextual Plane
Study against the artist’s body of work ; juxtaposed and compared on the semiotic, iconic, and contextual planes with works of artists of the same period, in different periods of his career, with the work of his contemporaries.
Contextual Plane
Has to do with analyzing the values of a work
Involves form and content
The Evaluative Plane
= to what degree the material basis of the work conveys meaning or particular intellectual/emotional contents
The Evaluative Plane
Reckons with standards of excellence in the use of medium and related techniques ;
The Evaluative Plane
medium (surface, ground, material blocks, instruments, tools, pigments) used with the high degree of skill, creativity, and insight?
The Evaluative Plane
Medium the most appropriate in conveying general or specific significations? ; technical side calls for familiarity with and sensitivity to the properties of the medium; transgressing conventional processes and norms in the quest for new creative and expressive resources accommodated
The Evaluative Plane
Traditional considerations of form: principles of organization: rhythm, harmony, balance, and proportion.
The Evaluative Plane
