"The picture is a flat thing contriving to give us what we would see in the presence of 'diversely positioned' things, by offering sufficient diacritical signs, through height and width, of the missing dimension. Depth is a third dimension derived from the other two…It will be worth our while to dwell for a moment upon this third dimension. There is at first glance, something paradoxical about it. I see objects that hide each other and that consequently I do not see; each one stands behind the other. I see depth and yet it is not visible, since it is reckoned from our bodies to things, and we are [as Cartesians] confined our bodies. There is no real mystery there."
Johnson, Galen A. Merleau-Ponty Aesthetics Reader: Philosophy and Painting (Spep). Northwestern University Press, 1994. Pg. 130
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Yes, we see planarly. But this depth is the key to our connection with the world around us. Without this paradoxical depth, we cannot move forward, we have no sense of proximity, distance or intimacy. Without this third dimension, there is no purpose of our being, no time, no change that we can impose upon the world, no narrative.
Post a Comment