The back-lighting stopped me in my tracks. The shadow was as dark as the tree trunk itself. They looked continuous as if they were of the same substance. The lawn looked as if it had been spray painted DA-glo. Mind you, this photo is not tweaked. My phone camera saw this strange light effect. Drama like this is momentary. Click.
I immediately zoomed in. No distraction, no nice residential context with a house. What we get now is…
…a repetition of forms. On the right, spiky triangles. On the left, and spilling onto the big triangle, you see amorphous meanderings.
Do we still have trees, lawn and late afternoon lighting? Yes, we’re still reminded of how wonderful these real lawns in our neighborhoods are.
We also have just the opposite: flat patterns on a flat surface confined in a rectangular frame.
Now it may dawn on you that you’re having an art experience. “Art does not stand for something outside itself” –Fairfield Porter, remember.
You can focus on the picture surface or what it represents, but not both at the same time — as Gombrich said in Art and Illusion.
But you can practice toggling back and forth between the two ways of seeing. Practice that!
All contents copyright (C) 2010 Katherine Hilden. All rights reserved.
artamaze by Katherine Hilden 