Deriving Meaning

Criticism and Analysis

Form & Content

• Form= visual, art elements, principles of art• Content= interpretation of themes, messages

• Subject Matter• Subtext

Formal Analysis• Meaning can be derived from the formal

• Use the following artwork and your reading.1. Determine the media: materials used and how it

was made-(form)2. Describe who the artist might be. 3. Induce possible themes using 1 & 2 (content)4. Induce possible meanings using 1-3 (content)

• Janine AntoniGnaw, 1992six hundred pounds of chocolate before bitingsix hundred pounds of lard before biting

Task: Determining the Content

• Make a list of words that you associate with Gnaw.

• From these words make a map that will help you find content and subtext.

Context

• Put Gnaw in context.• What are the possible external conditions that

may surround this work of art?• Include the context on the same page as your

list/map.

Iconography

• Visual METAPHOR-image or element that is descriptive of something else.

• SYMBOL-image or element that stands for or represents some other entity or concept.

• ICONOGRAPHY-system of symbols that allows artists to refer to complex ideas.

Process

• Is there any METAPHOR, SYMBOL or ICONOGRAPHY present in Gnaw?

• Gnaw is about eating• Artist Using teeth as a tool, biting chocolate

and biting lard• Evidence of the body creating the sculpture• Women and body image• Primal urge of biting, eating

What does the Artist Say?

• “Chewing on the lard wasn't a pleasant experience, but I'm really interested in the viewer empathizing with my process and I feel that somewhere in your body you can imagine what it's like to chew on 600 pounds of chocolate or chew on lard, and I'm very aware of the kind of visceral response you have to that. And I'm really trying to play those up against each other and then have you walk in this display and be seduced by these objects. But with the memory of where the came from.” –Janine Antoni, artist of Gnaw.

Writings about Art

• Art critics, art historians, museum curators• Writing helps develop ideas about art.• Content is not fixed, rather is reevaluated over

time.• Contradictory and opposing viewpoints over one

artwork.

Modernist Criticisms

• Formalist• Idealogical• Psychoanalytic• Structuralism

Postmodern Philosophical Positions

• Post-structuralism• Deconstruction• Feminist

Personal Interpretation

• “based on your own ideas, personal tastes, experiences, and history…emotional response…”, p.102 Meaning often shifts…

Summary

• An artwork is a form of communication between the artist and the viewer.

• Knowing the context can help to understand a work of art and the meaning behind it.

• Some artists want to give you all of the information, while others want the viewer to really think about what they are experiencing.

• Sometimes writing, research, the internet can aid in understanding or changing the way we think about an art piece.