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Part I: Art and Composition |
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The visual culture in which we live makes it increasingly important to remember that a “text” can be any object that communicates meaning, whether it contains words or not. Images communicate as well, and they can be “read” in ways not wholly dissimilar from the ways in which we read other kinds of texts. Think about how pictures (which are, after all, worth a thousand words) “speak to us. ”
Hearing the message that a visual, artistic text speaks requires the same type of sensitive thinking required of all reading. As with reading a written text, we must pay attention to the details, style, and “composition” of the work. Visual texts also require interpretation just as verbal ones do. And because the study of visual art stimulates thought, develops ideas, and requires interpretation, it can help us to become more sensitive, analytical, and careful writers.
In this section of The Conscious Reader, you will find the work of ten visual artists. Your reactions to their work will begin with visceral (i.e., gut) reactions. Before you can interpret, you should first allow yourself to experience the artworks on that emotional level. Just see what reactions they inspire. To make this possible, the works themselves are presented in the opening pages of The Conscious Reader. You might first experience the works without reading the information supplied about the artist and the context of the work.
To enrich that initial experience, you will find brief biographies and suggestions in the section. This information can help you move toward more informed understandings of these visual texts. Again, this process simulates the conscious reading you will be doing throughout this book: As you read each entry, you will have initial reactions; then, as a conscious reader, you should pause to consider deeper implications, study the style of the author (or in these cases the artist), and seek input from your teacher, from your classmates, and perhaps through further research. Use that process here and you will find that reading is a process that extends to the visual as well as the verbal arts.
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