Blog Archives

'Ways of Seeing.'

2/24/2023

NN VIII, charcoal & chalk tonal study.

'Seeing comes before words. The child looks and recognizes before it can speak.

But there is also another sense in which seeing comes before words. It is seeing which establishes our place in the surrounding world; we explain that world with words, but words can never undo the fact that we are surrounded by it. The relation between what we see and what we know is never settled. Each evening we see the sun set. We know that the earth is turning away from it. Yet the knowledge, the explanation, never quite fits the sight.'

John Berger, 'Ways of Seeing', 1972.

I was recently reminded of Berger's essay, particularly it's opening sentence. Knowledge is the key to interpretation, no matter how small that amount of knowledge might be. When we look at the world our definition of what we see is based on what we already know. But sometimes this knowledge may lead us astray via a bias based on an insufficient amount of knowledge or even on a want; the conspiracy theory area of apophenia. Berger's example of the world turning is an excellent, if unintended, example of this:

'Each evening we see the sun set. We know that the earth is turning away from it. Yet the knowledge, the explanation, never quite fits the sight.'

For some people it never will fit. The science is sound and yet some people chose to believe that the world is flat.

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The Intentionality Fallacy?

2/14/2023

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Work in progress. NN (Nomen Nescio) IIV: An Uncanny Presence. Series.
Oil on canvas ,94 × 70 cm (37 × 27.5 inches)

I am currently studying and reflecting upon 'Apophenia. Littlewood's Law of Miracles and the Intentionality Fallacy' by David Christopher Lane. One of Lane's key arguments, is to my mind, whilst not necessarily in based upon the mathematics of Littlewood Law, is his demonstration of how individuals thoughts and needs, both consciously and unconsciously, affect how that individual may connect random dots to form what Lane refers to as desultory decussations. Or the point where two or more random occurrences appear to cross or connect in the mind of an individual due not though the mathematics of Littlewood but simply through the mind set of the individual in question.

This theory is of great importance to the work which I am currently pursuing in that it confirms my own hypothesis that an observer sees an 'image' or idea in a piece of art because they expect, want or even need to see one. In the text Lane uses an excellent example in his debunking of Elliot Benjamins license plate synchronicity by pointing out that it was in all likelihood Benjamin's own frame of mind which made him interpret what he saw in his license plates as being significant to him because he wanted or needed it to be so.

So what do you see it the painting above and why do you see it?

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The dots we want to perceive, the ones we choose to ignore and the stories we tell ourselves...

2/6/2023

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NN VII, charcoal & chalk tonal study.

A dot is a signal, a sign. It gives us a point but it also gives us a direction. it points to the next dot. Perhaps it points to several dots. Perhaps it is part of a liner sequence. Perhaps it is part of a complex matrix of dots? Or perhaps it isn't.

Perhaps it is just a dot, a single isolated point of information?

Perhaps, perhaps not.

There are very few, if any, totally isolated dots in the universe that aren't related in some way to any others.

But there is another option as to what it might be. Perhaps our dot is not part of the liner sequence or matrix that we think it is. Perhaps it is part of a totally different pattern and it is just coincidence, or apophenia, that makes it appear to some people as being part of the system their conscious or subconscious wants it to be.

And so the conspiracy theory is born.

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Apophenia:
An Uncanny Presence.
2022-

'Ways of Seeing.'

NN VIII, charcoal & chalk tonal study.

The Intentionality Fallacy?

Work in progress. NN (Nomen Nescio) IIV: An Uncanny Presence. Series.
Oil on canvas ,94 × 70 cm (37 × 27.5 inches)

The dots we want to perceive, the ones we choose to ignore and the stories we tell ourselves...

NN VII, charcoal & chalk tonal study.

Archives

Categories

Apophenia:​An Uncanny Presence.2022-

'Ways of Seeing.'

NN VIII, charcoal & chalk tonal study.

The Intentionality Fallacy?

Work in progress. NN (Nomen Nescio) IIV: An Uncanny Presence. Series.Oil on canvas ,94 × 70 cm (37 × 27.5 inches)

The dots we want to perceive, the ones we choose to ignore and the stories we tell ourselves...

NN VII, charcoal & chalk tonal study.

Archives

Categories

Apophenia:
An Uncanny Presence.
2022-

Work in progress. NN (Nomen Nescio) IIV: An Uncanny Presence. Series.
Oil on canvas ,94 × 70 cm (37 × 27.5 inches)