Extra Credit: Ways of Seeing

The reading Ways of Seeing listed the many ways we see art and the factors that contribute to why we perceive it a certain way. Some of the factors include society, camera (photos), time, and text. Society can affect the way you view art because if there were similar things accepted by society during the time of the artwork you are viewing, as there are now then you will interpret the work in a similar way the artist envisioned it originally. This is discussed on page 14 of the reading.  The readying continues to explain how cameras and time go hand-in-hand because the artist is trying to capture a certain moment for the viewer to feel. “What you saw was relative to your position in time and space” (18).  Viewing an image of a town from 50 years ago to viewing a different image of the same town from 5 years ago will have a different experience. The position will also evoke a different emotion. A big factor is text because it can be a hit or miss when it is incorporated with artwork. It is the artist job to make sure the text will only enhance the moment and emotion they want to create. This theme is discussed on page 28. Each of these factors should be well thought when an artist is creating work. Correcting one small factor can give the viewer a complete connection to the way you want your work to be “seen.”

A huge theme in the reading is how original artwork will be seen differently than a reproduction. With all the technology that we have today it is hard to keep artwork completely originally.  You can spend years creating an originally piece but within a second it can be photographed and it has quickly lost its value. “It can never be seen in two places at the same time. When camera reproduces a painting it destroys the uniqueness of its image” (19). In the world today no matter how hard you try your work will be reproduced in one way or another. The artist now has a harder job of creating artwork because you have to make sure your art is so good that it has the same magic from the first time it is seen to the one hundredth time it is seen.

This was a great reading for us to learn about because as artist we need to understand how people will view our work. Once we understand how our work is perceived we can create our work in a specific way for whatever the purpose maybe. By knowing the ways of seeing, we can learn better ways to create.

Works Cited

Berger, John. Ways of Seeing. London: British Broadcasting, 1973. 7-33. Print.