Maya Sacks
The preservation of observation in Still Life: The challenge of translating the human experience of three-dimensional objects on to a two dimensional plane
Abstract
This research examines the challenge an artist faces when attempting to capture and fix, on a two-dimensional surface, something that is essentially dynamic and fluid. It will approach the challenge by exploring existing works of art which attempt to depict the multiplicitous nature of the perception which forms our engagement with reality. It will also consider Merleau Ponty’s discussion of Cézanne’s attempt to mimic the object organising itself before our eyes - what he terms the ‘lived perspective’. A discussion of Cubism and Virginia Woolf will provide an insight into the many ways in which artists, in contrasting mediums, deal with this thesis’ eponymous challenge. With an exploration into early vision science, reflection on the idea of preserving sight, and on painting as a diagnostic tool, I was able to develop a set of still life symbols representative of both the preservation of observation, and of perception’s dependence on movement. I explore Crary’s discussion of retinal persistence with a view to find new ways of invoking the ‘lived perspective’. Through the research carried out in this thesis, combined with my practical still life painting, I have attempted to come to an understanding of the challenge of translating three-dimensional perception onto a two-dimensional plane, with a view to in turn, draw the attention of the observer to the multiplicitous nature of vision. I do this through developing a piece of work - a multiple still life - which emphasises the abundance of information, from different perspectives, that our eyes receive when viewing everyday objects.
Study in Multiple Perspectives shows the culmination of my research by practice; the outcome of my attempt to understand the challenge of translating the human experience of viewing a three-dimensional object.
In order to further explore the challenge an artist faces when translating a three-dimensional object onto a two-dimensional plane, I wanted to attempt to find a new way of depicting the experience of multitudional vision. I used my painting practice to examine Merleau-Ponty’s ‘lived perspective’ and try to replicate it through the engagement of the viewer’s retinal persistence. As this thesis is an exploration of the challenge of translating three-dimensional painting, it is not necessary to succeed in such a translation, but to draw the viewer’s attention to the difficulties of it. I hope this work, as seen in figure 19, filled with my personal symbols of the preservation of sight, works to create a piece of art which presents both the complexities of sight, and the study and preservation of it.
I began this piece by setting up a still life scene with my three symbols of the preservation of observation - lemons, candles and glasses. I took upwards of sixty photographs of the set-up from a multitude of angles. The next step was deciding how many, and which, photographs to select to be translated into paint. I was tasked with choosing a set of images which worked to form a depiction which, together, captures the multitudinal perspectives which form our engagement with a single moment. Unusually, I was not choosing each painting based on individual beauty and a balanced composition, but on the way in which six canvases worked together to form a whole.
These six photographs were arrived at after a careful consideration of vision. After taking many, many, photographs in the round, I undertook the process of editing, selecting, and refining these photographs. I wanted to end up with the fewest number of images that would enable me to demonstrate what I wanted to show about vision. I needed to select few enough images for it to be practicable for me to complete paintings of the images selected within the time available, whilst also capturing the multiplicity which forms our engagement with reality. I believe these six images invoke the small differences within the perception of a three-dimensional object and describe the movement of my body around a material world.
In an attempt to find a new way of depicting the ‘lived perspective’ I reduced the three-dimensional scene into multiple photographs of individual concentrated perspectives which when combined, expand to provide a presentation of the third-dimension. There are key similarities between the process of photography and the process of sight. Light enters the eye through the pupil, as it enters the camera through the aperture. We focus this light on the retina, as we do on the film or digital sensor of a camera. Both contain lenses. Both require care. The fundamental difference between an eye and a camera is the difference between the retina and photographic film. The retina retains the impression of an image for 1/16th of a second. The film retains the image permanently. The same retina can be used to view unlimited images. Each segment of film is single-use and must be changed for the next image. In utilising the permanence that photography offers, I am able to freeze that same 1/16th of a second that the retina cannot retain for longer. The eye in turn, can view these images in succession, on the same retina, invoking retinal persistence. Through combining the use of photography and the eye, I am able to begin to create the lived perspective. In translating these photographs into paint, I am forced to look closely at the image. To understand the interaction of colour, the relation of the objects to one another. In painting the same still life from different six times over, I, the artist, is forced to engage with the importance of looking, and of sight.
