Rodney Pygoya Chang,
M.A., MS.Ed., Ph.D.*
April 15, 2008
I previously identified a difference in
reaction time between realistic landscape and abstract art.
I hypothesized
that this Pygoyan Gap is the result of comparing
naturalistic scenery in which we have adapted to over the ages,
with abstract
imagery, not overtly obvious in our naturalistic environment. I now believe there is another factor that
retards the reaction time of appreciating (or disliking) an abstract work of art when we
confront it, as in a gallery setting.
We react to the realistic landscape
painting on a visceral level. This
mental response comes from the part of the
brain that evokes the sense of
pleasure. A rendered
idyllic landscape does not demand that the viewer solve anything.
The artist in fact enhances the real world scene to beautify
it, making it more glorious than it appears in the physical world.
For example, the painter can increase lushness by adding richer greens to the trees and ground
and by using more
brilliant reds and yellows for the fields of flowers.
All landscape paintings also position elements in the work, such as
trees, mountain, ocean, and clouds, to be spatially arranged for perfect visual
balance. A less artistic but related
visual act
is for a tourist to walk about to find the best viewpoint for taking a souvenir photograph of a picturesque
place. Likewise,
a painter on location will position his easel and self from a vantage point in
his or her judgment best suited to capture its beauty.
In these ways, the artist makes the natural scene his or her
own. The embellishments make the scene now the artist’s subjective
statement about the
real world location. In other
words, the physical scene in now modified with the artist’s emotions
and
cosmetic augmentations and thereby elevated to a categorical “work of art.”
Unlike the completely visceral reaction to
an pastoral painted scene, looking at abstract art is more complex. Although
the mind reacts to the beautifying elements of the
work, such as balance of composition and color harmony of the overall
piece, it
is confused by the lack of obvious subject matter (such as depicted/provided by realistic
landscape artwork).
Another part of
the brain must be brought into action in order to judge the affective quality of the
work. The left
hemisphere comes into play to handle the required problem solving.
The person unconsciously asks, “What is it?”
besides “Do I like
it?” when viewing the exhibited artwork.
The first question must be answered before the second can be
addressed.
Adding this analytical component to the enjoyment response of looking at
abstract art lengthens the reaction
time in the judgment of whether or not one
likes/appreciates a specific work of art.
There is also the
precondition of expecting to experience pleasure when looking at art.
We go to gallery openings
with a hedonistic frame of mind, anticipating "warm fuzzies"
(good feelings) when engaging the displayed art.
A show of
Romantic landscapes doesn’t disappoint. An exhibit of abstruse shapes and exotic forms might challenge the
intellect, but
confound or even disrupt the more primal response of pleasure.
Artists can take
into consideration these two different cerebral
activities in spectators of art.
For an almost reflexive
pleasurable reaction to a landscape painting, they should
not include any object that might raise questions about the content.
For example in a glorious sunset desert scene, do not add a
cattle skull in the foreground. This
might suggest to the viewer
that the work includes a symbolic metaphor of death; that the
artist might be making a statement other than just glorifying the
attractiveness of a place.
For the abstractionist,
naturalistic setting or background for featured geometric forms can strengthen
the pleasure reaction,
especially if strong colors and compositional layout lead
the viewer to perceive the naturalistic setting first, then only secondarily
notice the abstract components of the piece, leading to subsequent contemplation.
software is a better tool than the brush. Digital 3-dimensional
forms use minute and indiscernible geometric shapes as building
blocks for the overall complex forms that the we perceive. The artist,
like myself, can select to permit the underlying geometric
construction of the work to manifest itself as part of the character and style
of the visualized work. For example, review the
sample artwork, below and on the right.
Interestingly,
elementary children's art is based upon geometric forms to represent real world
things. For example, the circle
is used as the Sun or human face, the triangle represents a house's roof, and
the square becomes the house's living space and
windows. You might say that the child's mind is the first simplistic
pictorial generator, similar to the graphic capability of
1970s PCs (like the IBM XT and 64K Atari). Although the child seems to
instinctively understand the connection between basic
geometric shapes and objects of their environment, when they become adults that
awareness is lost by most. Many seniors in
retirement go to art classes and learn to draw by becoming familiar with the
geometric nature of complex forms. Most don't
think or remember far back enough to realize that they naturally possessed this
understanding before. Picasso was astute in
studying children's art to inspire primal basic forms to power his bizarre yet
radically innovative portrayal of the human figure.
Making art that made the invisible visible helped form the Cubism movement.
landscape
abstract
abstract forms in landscape setting
All art copyrighted by Rodney Pygoya Chang
Truly Virtual Web Art Museum
* M.A. (Studio Art-Painting
& Drawing, Northern Illinois University, Dekalb, IL),
M.S.Ed. (Art Education, thesis
in developmental art, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA),
Ph.D. (Art Psychology, thesis in perception in art appreciation,
Union Institute University, Cincinnati, OH)
Comments by distinguished Prof. Herbert Franke, University of Munich
Dr. Rodney Chang's theory of aesthetic perception, 1980
Comments by arts writer and artist Robert Genn on the landscape as subject matter
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