Is Language a Virus?
Can art and language be contagious?
Over the last few years I have become interested in the use of language in art.
I began to graffiti some of my sculptures and felt that the result added a great deal to the work by introducing a layer that transformed a more formal sculpture into something new, both conceptually as well as visually.
This whole idea has led me to want to understand more about how art is perceived by the brain and I would like to investigate how language has affected us (from monkey to art critic). How do words affect the reception or the interpretation of a work of art?
How are our emotions triggered by words recounting our past, our present or even our dreams of an idyllic future? Is it the concept presented by a title or a phrase that leads us to better appreciate a piece of art?
Do we need to own it psychologically in order to love it and want to take it home with us? Can words somehow help make the artwork a part of our lives?
How can we separate pure aesthetics and technical brilliance from our emotional reactions, and how do words affect the latter?
In my travels I ran into a photograph that really wasn’t that beautiful, from a purely aesthetic point of view, so you may ask yourself why I mention it here? It depicted a tape measure rolled-up loosely and its title was: ‘La distancia entre tu corazon y el mio” (The distance between your heart and mine).
It touched me. Would I have had the same reaction to it had the title been something like : “Your closet is 3 meters wide”? I’m not so sure….