antony clarkson
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Apophenia:
​An Uncanny Presence.
2022-

Picture
Whilst exploring painted spaces via my Personal Topographies series I was constantly aware that the next development in this painted process would be the introduction of abstract presences. Although I have been using the word presence to denote the manifestations in my work, I am now wondering if it is perhaps the best word to use. If the presence in question is always, pseudo human should I be considering the idea of anthropomorphism instead? Or perhaps in more global terms pareidolia? Or more properly apophenia? ​

'Ways of Seeing.'

2/24/2023

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Picture

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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  • CODEX
    • plane >
      • Apophenia: An Uncanny Presence.
      • Control(s)
      • Personal Topographies
      • The Self-Isolation Residency
      • Americana
      • Mauve Skies
      • Scotland
      • Selected Drawing & Paintings,
      • The Teaching Years
      • Spatial Paintings 2006-2008
      • Paintings 2006
    • mass >
      • The Blind Men and the Elephant.
      • Spatial Conceptions 2014 - 2022
      • Painted Objects
      • Autograph
      • The Newtonian Nightmare
    • volume >
      • Enso nest
      • Someone else's storey
      • Shower, The Process Residency 2013,
      • Concrete Haiku
      • Atypical
      • The Murder of Crows.
      • Composition in White (Painting), The Breathe Residency:
      • Composition in White (Sculpture), The Breathe Residency:
      • Floorplan
      • Paper Scissors Rock
      • Pilgrimage
      • The Fifth Column
      • Tension
      • Arch
    • blogs >
      • The Self-Isolation Residency: Blog 2020-2021
      • Apophenia: An Uncanny Presence. 2022
    • artist statement
    • cv & education
    • contact