READING THE IMAGE

Alice G. Guillermo

I.

Our visual experience covers three kinds of images produced in society today: 1) the
images of the traditional arts, 2) the images of print and tv media, and 3) the images of
contemporary art (the visual arts as two-dimensional expressions, such as drawing,
painting, and photography, as three-dimensional expressions, such as sculpture, and the
audio-visual art of cinema.

A. IMAGES IN THE TRADITIONAL ARTS

Not all the productions of the traditional arts bear images, for they are often articles of
everyday life combining design and function. A large number, however, especially those
linked with ritual, bear images in the form of symbols and motifs which may convey
narratives of communal significance. Done in an artistic form and in a traditional medium,
they function to preserve the values and belief system of the community in the context of
everyday life. This is because, as symbols and motifs, they are related to religious beliefs
and rituals. Thus, to know their meaning, one has to study the culture of the communities
which have preserved our indigenous ways of artistic expression.

The traditional arts contain their own visual vocabulary and symbolism, as in textiles,
embroidery, brassware, etc. Most of these symbols and motifs are drawn from the natural
world and reflect the close relationship of human beings and nature in the animist world
view. Figures, such as sun, moon, stars, lightning, birds, frogs, lizards, the man doing a
rain dance, are symbols of social values, needs, as well as fears. These symbols and
motifs are juxtaposed or arranged in a meaningful series.

Of the different cultural communities, the T'boli of Cotabato are among the most artistic
with a creativity that grows out of the belief that it pleases the gods to see humans
embellish their persons with beautiful clothes and body ornaments which they themselves
create. Their t'nalak abaca cloth done in the arduous ikat decorative dyeing technique
shows a wide repertoire of symbolic figures. Their blouses bear richly embroidered motifs.
In the Cordilleras, Ifugao blankets may contain motifs that constitute a narrative, such as
warrior, shield, star, river, and crocodile. Animal motifs, such as the pig and the carabao
which have a place in ritual, are prevalent in their vessels of carved wood. Tagbanwa
sculpture in Palawan consists of stylized birds and animals with etched linear designs in
the natural light tone of the wood that contrasts with the blackened surface. In Southern
Philippines, the Maranao and the Taosug have among the richest design systems found
in woodcarving, textiles, and brassware, including thesari-manokor bird with fish, the naga
or serpent, the pako rabong or growing fern, and the tree of life embellished with
numerous motifs, aside from the wealth of geometric designs in mats and brassware.

Aside from the figures themselves, other elements, like color, are conveyors of meaning.
A community or society has its distinct chromatic code, color symbolism, and conventions
in color usage relating to social class, age, sector, etc. In Philippine society, there are
several simultaneously existing chromatic codes and symbolic color systems: that of the
cultural communities with their lore of natural dyes, that of the Christianized lowland folk,
and that of the urban centers which are influenced by Western cultural values and artistic
forms. The chromatic code includes the range of hues used in a culture, the dominant
hues, the preferred or recurrent color combinations, the saturation of the hues in terms of
their component colors and their intensity in terms of their degree of whites and grays.
The kinds of dyes and pigments used, their sources, whether mineral or organic, and their
methods of production are important in drawing out the chromatic code. Not to be
overlooked is the fact that different colors are symbolic of community values or are linked
to a system of conventional symbolism.

In the study of the traditional indigenous arts, it is not enough to appreciate their beauty
and skill of execution, for one must also examine their conditions of production. Under
what economic and social conditions are these works produced? Are the prevailing
conditions conducive to the preservation and flourishing of these arts? More often, these
involve the community's difficult struggle to maintain its identity. Many communities are
engaged in a continuing struggle to keep their ancestral lands against loggers and land-
grabbers; they have also been victims of exploitation by dominant groups.

Indigenous artistic expressions, not only epic and song, but also weaving, pottery,
basketry, and related arts, are situated in the folk tradition of orality. As part of the
traditional lore of a social group, these skills are handed down through oral forms from
one generation to another. In fact, there have been accounts of mnemonic devices in
song and chant to serve as memory aids in executing difficult processes, as in weaving.
The use of accessible materials in the environment maintains an intimacy and familiarity
with the different art forms. As products of the creativity of the people, they are continually
reproduced and replenished, provided the conditions of life make possible the continued
survival of these forms. Likewise, in cultural communities, there exists a particular
relationship of artist and society marked by a commonality of shared values and
experiences. From the indigenous arts, one can also distinguish world views and value-
systems distinct from those of urban western-influenced societies.

As distinguished from orality, literacy, on the other hand, includes recent works that follow
the canons of written literary forms. In music, they are those that have written scores and
give little room for improvisation. In the visual arts, they are painting and sculpture which
are "read" as texts according to codes that have been systematized by fine-arts schools
and movements of contemporary art. These also imply the leisure for reflection and
contemplation, as well as a dialogic relationship between work and viewer. In our country,
orality and literacy are not in opposition, nor does one necessarily replace the other, but
these are two modes of expression existing simultaneously and complementing each
other.

B. IMAGES IN EVERYDAY LIFE

These images are disseminated in the print and tv media; in the newspapers as cartoons,
illustrations, comics, and advertisements; on tv as sitcoms, advertisements, and MTV.
They function to convey values and attitudes favorable to certain social groups and
classes, to promote products, local and foreign, and to convey the illusion through the
mass media that these products and goods are accessible to all; to promote certain social
values, such as consumerism, the idea that goods are the be-all and end-all of life; to
perpetuate attitudes such as sexism or the exploitation of women as objects of pleasure;
or to convey the power and dominance of big capitalist countries. The government and
public, as well as private, institutions may use these images to instill conservative values,
or to promote public programs such as population control, ecological consciousness, etc.
These values and attitudes are conveyed not overtly, but covertly, through subliminal
inducements or "hidden persuaders" that operate semiotically. An important part of visual
literacy is to be able to decode the operation of these "hidden persuaders" in the skillful
use of images by way of their semiotic or meaning-conveying potential, in particular, in
terms of their style and use of line, color, tone, texture, and pictorial organization. The
study of visual communications is based on a keen understanding of visual resources as
they are harnessed to convey messages.

C. IMAGES IN THE CONTEMPORARY ARTS

Images of contemporary art are found in painting, sculpture, drawings, illustrations,

cartoons, posters, murals, photographs, and film. They are conveyed through various
media: oil, acrylic, watercolor, sculptural materials, film, mixed media, and other meadia,
all of which have their own techniques, processes and technical approaches to image-
making. These images may be representational in a wide range of figurative styles; they
can be non-representational or abstract, or a fusion of the two. The images of
contemporary arts represent reality, express emotions in cathartic release, convey values
of particular groups, sectors, and classes, signify ways of looking at the world and life, or
make a critique of prevailing social conditions in order to bring about change.

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II.
In the Philippines, painting and sculpture have passed through three stages. The first was
the introduction from the west of drawing or painting on a two-dimensional surface, along
with the classical representation of the human figure and single-point perspective as the
principle of composition. This initial stage was marked by the copying of western models,
as seen in the engravings of the 17th century and in the religious paintings from the 17th
to the early 18th century during the exclusive patronage of art by the church and colonial
state. The second stage is the period of appropriation of these forms with artistic creativity
and originality developing these forms from within the local context--a process which
began with Luna, Hidalgo, and the miniaturist painters in the 19th century, continued
through the Amorsolo School in the early decades of the 20th century up to the
introduction of modernism by Edades and the subsequent development of contemporary
art from the postwar period to the present. The third stage is marked by the interplay of
contemporary idioms with the traditional arts in new works, a direction which is gaining
ground in the visual arts, architecture and music. This is seen in the use of indigenous
materials and forms, in the use and transformation of traditional symbols, and in the
influence of traditional aesthetics on contemporary works.

Understanding art has to do with "reading" the visual work (painting, print, sculpture,
architecture, film, advertising images) as a text conveying a complex of concepts,
feelings, attitudes, moods, atmospheres, and values that derive from world views and
ideologies, public or personal, as well as evaluating it in terms of form as conveying
significations.

With respect to the form of the work, there are a number of issues to consider. Each visual
art form, whether it be painting, poster, comics, or illustration, has its own technical
standards of excellence, involving the choice and use of a medium with its particular
properties and suitable techniques. For this reason, it is necessary to familiarize oneself
with the different art mediums and techniques through the observation of processes. It is
essential to understand the mediums and processes involved in art-making because
these enter into the meaning of the work.
One can take a practical approach and sketch a method of analysis and criticism. This
can begin by going through the basic documentary information about a work of art:

1. Title of the work. The title may be significant or immaterial to the meaning of the work.
It is a textual element which may or may not contribute to its meaning. What is the relation
of the title to the work? It can be a simple label which identifies the subject, in which case
it is merely a convenient naming device. At times, however, it bears an ironic relationship
to the work or may carry a sly or witty comment about the work or its subject. If significant,
the title adds a literary dimension to the work in the interplay of the visual and the literary.

2. Name of artists. This brings in biographical data: to what generation do the artists
belong? Who are their peers? What were the dominant artistic trends during their active
years? What is their personal background and training? Did they keep records, diaries,
or did they publish statements which may shed light on their art?

3. Medium and techniques. The documentation identifies the medium and sometimes
includes the techniques. Is the medium academic or conventional, or does it involve
artistic choice to a greater degree, as in mixed media or multimedia? Likewise, there
should be a keen awareness of the painting, sculpture, print, etc. not just as a completed
work but also as artistic process involving particular materials and techniques and
produced under particular social conditions of production, both personal and social. It is
also necessary to have a knowledge of the properties and limitations of the different kinds
of mediums and their techniques. For materials and techniques are also conveyors of
meaning and not just superficial or incidental aspects of the work. Technical innovations
do not or should not exist only for themselves in the sheer interest of novelty, but should
be part of the work's total meaning. As for the use of indigenous materials, these evoke
the natural and familiar environment and preclude the sense of alienation experienced by
ordinary viewers before artworks made from inaccessible specialist materials. A note
must be added regarding the ground of a painting. There are occasions in which the
description of the ground requires greater specificity than merely canvas, paper or wood
panel. Different kinds of cloth, canvas, and wood have been used as ground at different
periods and as such, they aid in situating the work in a particular time and place. It is also
useful to identify the particular kind of paper used, such as the different art papers and
handmade paper produced from a wide variety of organic materials. This also goes for
the pigments and coloring substances, their compositions and origins, as well as the tools
used in the technical execution.

4. Dimensions or measurements. The dimensions as now measured in the metric

system may be big, large-scale, mural size, average, small or miniature-size. The extreme
poles of very large and very small are usually significant to the meaning of the work. One
of the smalled paintings on record is that painted on a grain of rice. In the 19th century,
miniature paintings, of religious subjects and secular portraits, enjoyed a fashion. The
historical and mythological paintings of the European academies, abstract expressionist
works, and street murals are in large scale. Some large-scale works are meant to envelop
and saturate the spectator in color fields; others seek to draw the viewer into the dynamic
movements within the painting. Murals which have an essentially public character seek
to address a large open-air crowd regarding issues and concerns of social and political
importance. The format of the work is part of its dimensions. The usual rectangular format
of a painting may not hold any significance. However, symbolism may come into play in
a square or circular format. A modular sculpture with exchangeable elements amay
manifest architectural concepts. Montage-like, with the influence of the cinematic image,
the painting may consist of several uneven panels in juxtaposition. Some contemporary
works may borrow the format of early Renaissance paintings, as in diptychs or triptychs
or with a principal image bordered by a predella or sections portraying a narrative
sequence.

5. Date of work. The date, often the year, in which the work was completed situates the
work in a period and provides the historical context of a work. What were the predominant
issues, concerns, and trends of the period? The work is viewed in relation to works of the
same period by the same artist or by other artists. Likewise, it provides information as to
what period of the artist's development the work belongs, whether to the early, middle or
late period of his or her career. Finally, the date of the work situates it in art history: does
it belong to a particular trend, school, or movement? What does it contribute to art history?
6. Provenance. This is indicated by the name of the present owner or collector of the
work, whether it belongs to a museum, gallery, or private collection. A work, in fact, should
have a record of provenance from the present owner to former owners and to the artist.

Of course, one may not immediately find the answers to all these questions.
Understanding the work of art may involve research. Moreover, the meaning of an
important work can grow with time as viewing it becomes a process of continual discovery
which is part of the pleasure that art gives.

We begin with the basic premise that there are two interrelated aspects in the study of
art. The first is that art has its specificity: that is, its particular language or vocabulary that
has to do with the mediums, techniques, and visual elements of art that constitute it as a
distinct area of human knowledge and signifying practice. This is not just what is
commonly called the formal aspect of art, but it is what constitutes art as a particular
human activity different from the others. The other aspect is that art, while it has its
specificity, is at the same time historically situated and shaped by social, economic, and
political forces. Both these aspects need to be taken into account so as to be able to fully
understand and appreciate art. For a study of the formal elements alone will not lead to a
full understanding of the work, in the same way that the exclusive study of the social
determinants risks collapsing the artistic into the sociological. A visual work as an iconic
or pictorial sign has a unique and highly nuanced meaning, and this uniqueness and
semantic richness arises from the original use of the elements and resources of art.
Needless to say, the meaning, signification, or system of significations of a work is not
statemental, nor is the understanding of a work a reductive process which reduces
meaning to a summary, statement, or single insight. Meaning in art is a complex of
intellectual, emotional, and sensory significations which the work conveys and to which
the viewer responds, bringing in the breadth of his or her cultural background, artistic
exposure and training, and human experience in a dialogic relationship with the art work.
One may speak of a work's "horizon of meaning" (Eagleton) which implies a range of
possible significations that a work may accomodate, at the same time that it suggests
semantic parameters.
The analytic study of how the various elements and material features of the work produce
meaning should lead to a more stable and consensual field of meaning, away from erratic,
whimsical, purely subjective and impressionistic readings. Having taken note of the
information provided by the basic documentation of the work, we then proceed to four
planes of analysis: the basic semiotic, the iconic, the contextual, and the axiological or
evaluative planes.

A. THE BASIC SEMIOTIC PLANE

Semiotics is the study of "signs"--here the work of art is the iconic or pictorial sign. A sign
consists of a "signifier" or its material/physical aspect and its "signified" or non-material
aspect as concept and value. Related to these is the "referent" or object as it exists in the
real world. A visual work. A visual work, whether it be a two-dimensional pictorial space
or a three-dimensional body, is an embodiment of signs in which all physical or material
marks and traces, elements, figures, notations are signifiers which bear a semantic or
meaning-conveying potential and which in relation to each other convey concepts and
values which are their signifieds. Their semantic potential is realized in the analysis or
reading of the integral work.

The basic semiotic plane covers the elements and the general technical and physical
aspects of the work with their semantic (meaning-conveying potential). It includes:

1. The visual elements and how they are used: line value, color, texture, shape,
composition in space, movement. Each element has a meaning-conveying potential
which is realized, confirmed, and verified in relation to the other elements which form the
text of the work. While the elements usually reinforce one another, there can also exist
contrasting or contradictory relationships which may be part of the meaning of a work.
The elements and all material features are thus to be viewed in a highly relational manner
and not isolated or compartmentalized.
2. The choice of medium and technique. In contemporary art, medium enters more and
more into the meaning of the work. While the European academies or salons of the
nineteenth century decreed the choice of medium, today the artist exercises free choice
in this respect, a choice determined less by its availability as by its semantic potential.
For instance, handmade paper with its organic allure, irregularities of texture, and uneven
edges is favored by a number of artists because it bears significations conveying the
uniquely personal, human, and intimate, in contrast to mass-produced standard paper.
Technique, of course, goes hand in hand with the nature of the medium. Likewise, there
are techniques which valorize the values of spontaneity and play of chance and accident,
while there are those which emphasize order and control.

3. The format of the work. The very format of the work participates in its meaning. Again,
in contemporary art, format is no longer purely conventional but becomes laden with
meaning. For instance, the choice of a square canvas is no longer arbitrary but enters
into the meaning of the work as a symbolic element, the square signifying mathematical
order and precision.

4. Other physical properties and marks of the work. Notations, traces, textural

features, marks, whether random or intentional, are part of the significations of the work.

The elements of the visual arts derive their semantic or meaning-conveying potential from
two large sources: a) human psychophysical experiences (psychological and
physical/sensory) which are commonly shared; and b) the socio-cultural conventions of a
particular society and period (Matejka and Titunik 1976). As human beings, our sensory
and physical experiences in general are intimately fused with our psychological conditions
and processes. Among our basic psychophysical experiences are those of day and night,
of warmth and cold, of weight or gravity, relative distance, pleasure and pain, with the
complex intellectual and emotional associations that go with these. Because of these
humanly shared experiences, it is possible to arrive at a general agreement of what these
elements and their usage convey in a work of art.
The semantic potential of line, for instance, does not merely lie in its orientation as
horizontal, vertical, diagonal, curvilinear, but also in its very quality, its thickness or
thinness, density and porosity, regularity or irregularity, its production by even or uneven
pressure on a surface, as well as qualities determined by the instruments producing it. A
line made by a technical pen signifies a set of concepts and values different from that
made by a stick of charcoal. Likewise, the different orientations of line derive their
meaning from the positions of the body. At rest, one is horizontal, in readiness, vertical,
and in action, diagonal. In dance, one creates curved lines in space with one's body and
limbs.

Our sense of tonal values from light through shades of gray to dark comes from our
experience of the cycle of night and day, from early dawn through the gradual series of
light changes in the course of the day until evening to darkest night. These changes in
the light and dark of our environment have always affected us psychologically; in general,
dawn ushers in bright optimism, while night creates a sense of mystery, melancholy, and
respite. In our perception of color around us, warm hues that seem to advance are
associated with human warmth, congeniality, openness and spontaneity, while cool hues
which seem to recede are associated with remoteness, self-containment, quietness, and
restraint. Shapes are also linked to our physical experiences; geometric shapes, whether
two- or three-dimensional are measurable and circumscribed; organic shapes are drawn
from natural living and growing forms, while free shapes project, expand, and contract in
all directions. Texture is associated with experiences of pleasure and pain, pleasantness
and unpleasantness, in tactile sensations of hard and soft, smooth and rough, silky and
gritty. Movement in the visual art, whether implied or actual, parallels human experiences
of movement within our own bodies or in relation to things around us. Rhythm is part of
the body's processes as an organic whole. Our sense of composition is affected by gravity
and the relative weights of things, as well as our physical experience of bodies massing,
crowding or in isolation and apartness; it is also determined by our sense of the
relationship between figures or objects, as well as between figures or objects and their
intervals or intervening spaces within a given field.
Just as important, the meaning-conveying potential of the elements also comes from their
socio- cultural context with its conventions and traditions. As to social conventions, these
have to do with symbolic systems commonly understood by members of a society or
group. These systems include those of color, for instance, where apart from the
signfications drawn from the basic psychophysical associations, they acquire socially
derived meanings. For the various hues possess differential semantic inflections in
different societies. A common example is black which is the color of mourning in western
or western-influenced societies, while it is white in many Asian societies. Likewise, groups
and societies have their own chromatic codes which have to do with the range of hues
with their tones and saturations that operate in their art and with prevalent or favored color
combinations. For instance, the chromatic code used by artists in urban areas is
determined by the standard sets of colors industrially produced in the west. On the other
hand, the chromatic codes of the cultural communities are determined by their lore of
local dyes derived from available plants and minerals. Each cultural community has its
own particular chromatic code because it has its own lore of dyes, although there may be
general similarities between a number of communities. By bringing out the distinctiveness
of each, one does not lump indigenous qualities into one homogenous category.
Conventions may also include formats, as in the Chinese horizontal or vertical hanging
scroll. The different writing conventions in different societies may influence composition
in space. Also important are cultural conventions in the use of space which is linked with
world views. There is, for instance, the dialogue between figure and space in the arts of
China and Japan, on one hand, and the phenomenon of horror vacui in the arts of India
and Southeast Asia, on the other. In abstract art, it is the basic semiotic plane which alone
operates, but in figurative art, one proceeds to two other planes.

According to de Saussure again, meaning is produced from the interplay of the signifiers
of the work. Following this, a number of observations arise. The first is that artistic analysis
takes into account not only the elements but also other material aspects, such as
dimension, format, medium, frame, and techniques, as signifiers or conveyors of
meaning. The second is that there is developed a finer and more sensitive perception of
the elements as they are specifically and materially found in a particular work. Line, for
instance, is not just seen in its vertical, horizontal, or diagonal orientation, but is examined
in its particular properties of density, porosity, relative sharpness, etc. Third, the elements
are not studied in a sequential and compartmentalized manner but in a highly relational
and interactive way in which the use of line, color, texture, composition in space confirm
or verify meanings or create semantic relationships of similarity or contrast. And fourth,
the signifiers go hand in hand with their signifieds, and thus one does not limit oneself to
a description of the elements in the way they are used but links their particularities of
usage with their primary significations, as well as with their intellectual and emotional
associations within the society. In the images of art and the media, the use of the elements
affects us subliminally or unconsciously and, especially in the media are part of what have
been called the "hidden persuaders" that influence choice and behavior. However, it is
through art criticism that we become highly conscious of the means and their effects and
what they signify. It is also in semiotic analysis that we work within the specific language
of art. In contrast, the classical approach often overlooks the basic language of art and
bears heavily on the image, its iconography and descriptive details, as well as its
iconology and its narratives.

B. THE ICONIC PLANE OR THE IMAGE ITSELF

This is still part of the semiotic approach since it is still based on the signifier-signified
relationship. But here it is not that material elements of the work that are dealt with as in
the basic semiotic plane, but this has to do with the particular features, aspects, and
qualities of the image which are the signifiers. The image is regarded as an "iconic sign"
which means, beyond its narrow associations with religious images in the Byzantine style,
that it is a unique sign with a unique, particular and highly nuanced meaning, as different
from a conventional sign such as a traffic or street sign which has a single literal meaning.

The iconic plane includes the choice of the subject which may bear social and political
implications. An example in art history is the French realist artist Gustave Courbet's
choice of workers and ordinary people in his paintings, instead of the Olympian gods and
goddesses or heroes from Greek and Roman antiquity that were the staple of classical
and academic art up to the nineteenth century. We can ask the question: Is the subject
meaningful in terms of the socio-cultural context, does it reflect or have a bearing on the
values and ideologies arising in a particular place and time?

One proceeds to consider the presentation of the image and its relationship to the viewer.
If the subject is a human figure, does it address the viewer directly; is it self-contained or
self-absorbed? What kind of subject-viewer relationship is implied by the subject through
his facial expression, body language, costume and accessories, natural or social
background? Is it a relationship of peers or one of dominance and subordination? Is it a
friendly, ironic, aggressive, or hostile relationship, and all possible nuances thereof? Most
examples of Philippine genre, for instance, are based on the concept of the stage or
tableau which is oriented towards a large public audience which it is aware of and directly
addresses—a mark of the social cohesiveness of rural peasant society as well as the
extended Filipino family system in which all members of society have their kinship
appellations. John Berger in his Ways of Seeing has an engrossing study of paintings
with the female nude as subject, many of which he demonstrates as stemming from sexist
attitudes reifying (reducing to object status) or commodifying women with respect to the
implied male viewer.

Also part of the iconic plane is the positioning of the figure or figures, whether frontal, in
profile, three-fourths, etc. and the significations that arise from these different
presentations. Does the painting show strong central focusing with the principal figure
occupying the center space or is it decentered and the painting asymmetrical in
composition? How do these presentations contribute to different meanings? Does the
subject or subjects have a formal or a casual air? How does one describe the central
figure's stance: poised, relaxed, indifferent, provocative, or aloof? How much importance
is given to psychological insight into character? to costume and accessories? to the
setting, natural, social or domestic? What is the relative scaling of the figures from large
to small? What bearing does this have to the meaning of the work? Luna's Tampuhan
brings to the fore the artist's sensitivity to body language. How do the postures of the man
and the woman convey their emotional attitudes?
In portraits, where is the gaze of the subject directed? This is important not only in defining
the relationship of subject and viewer but also in describing pictorial space. Degas'
painting Woman with Chrysanthemums shows a middle-aged woman beside a large vase
of flowers. More importantly, her intense and scheming look projects an imaginary line to
a figure or figures that are the objects of her gaze outside the pictorial field of the painting
into an implied open and expanded space. This work deconstructs the classical
conventions of portraiture.

Is there cropping of the figure or figures? What is the significance of the kind of cropping
used? Some kinds of cropping are intended to create a random, arbitrary effect as against
the deliberate and controlled. Other kinds isolate a segment of the subject, such as the
hand or the feet, in order to draw attention to its physical qualities--when a part stands for
the whole, a peasant's bare feet can tell us about an entire life of labor and exploitation.
Some artists use cropping as a device to imply the extension of the figure into the viewer's
space.

Here one also takes into account the relationship of the figures to one another, whether
massed, isolated, or juxtaposed in terms of affinity or constrast. A painting may expand
or multiply its space by having not just one integral image but several sets of images in
montage form, from the same or different times and places. These may occur in temporal
sequence to constitute a narrative or may take the form of simultaneous facets or aspects
of reality. Serial images which show an image multiplied many times, as in Andy
Warhol'sMarilyn MonroeorCampbell Soup Cans,convey significations arising from the
blatant consumerism of the advanced capitalist societies of the First World.

The style of figuration is an important part of the iconic plane. The figurative style is not
mere caprice, passing fashion, or the artist's personalecriture;beyond these, it implies a
particular re- presentation or interpretation of the world, a world view, if not ideology.
Classical figuration basically follows the proportion of 7 1/2 to 8 heads to the entire figure
in its pursuit of ideal form, as in a formal studio portrait with the subject enhanced by
make-up, all imperfections concealed. Realist figuration is based on the keen observation
of people, nature, and society in the concern for truth of representation, thus creating true
portraits of individuals or exposing the poverty and squalor that arise from social
inequities. Impressionist figuration is fluid and informal, often catching the subject
unawares like a candid camera. Expressionist figuration follows emotional impulses and
drives, thus often involving distortion that comes from strong emotion. However, the
viewer should not be too anxious to find precise stylistic labels, for contemporary art has
seen the development of highly original styles that have gone far beyod the School of
Paris. It is important to be sensitive to the meaning-conveying potential of highly individual
styles. In the basic semiotic plane which deals with the material aspect of the work and in
the iconic plane which deals with the features of the image itself, one can see that as the
signifier cannot be separated from the signified, concrete fact or material data cannot be
divorced from value; in other words, fact is value-laden and value or ideological meaning
is derived from material fact.

C. THE CONTEXTUAL PLANE

Here one proceeds from the basic semiotic and iconic planes and the knowledge and
insights one has gained from these into the social and historical context of the work of art.
Resituating the work in its context will bring out the full meaning of the work in terms of
its human and social implications. The viewer draws out the dialogic relationship of art
and society. Art sources its energy and vitality from its social context and returns to it as
a cognitive force and catalyst for change. If one does not view the work in relation to its
context, but chooses to confine analysis to the internal structure of the work, one truncates
its meaning by refusing to follow the trajectories of the work into the larger reality that
surrounds it. One prevents the work from reverberating in the real world.

As has been said earlier, the meaning of a work is a complex that involves concepts,
values, emotions, attitudes, atmospheres, sensory experiences that arise from the three
planes. The experience of a work cannot be reduced or paraphrased to a statement, such
as a moral lesson or message, but is a total experience involving the faculties of the whole
person--not just his eyes or his senses, but his mind and emotions as well. The work of
art has its horizon of meaning which is narrower or larger depending on the degree of
cultural literacy, cultural breadth, art exposure and training, and intellectual and emotional
maturity of the viewer. Art involves cognition or learning; it is an important way of learning
about people, life, and society. Does the work expand our knowledge of reality as a
whole? Is its experience liberative artistically, psychologically, humanly, or socially?

A broad knowledge of history and the economic, political and cultural conditions, past and
present, of a society is called upon in the contextual plane. With this comes a knowledge
of national and world art and literatures, mythologies, philosophies, and different cultures
and world views. The work of art may contain references and allusions, direct or indirect,
to historical figures and events, as well as to religious, literary, and philosophical ideas
and values which are part of the meaning of the work.

The different symbolic systems which are culture-bound also come into play. Although
we have been strongly influenced by western symbolic systems, we have to move
towards a greater awareness of our many indigenous and Asian/Southeast Asian, Malay
animist and Islamic symbolic systems which must be given even greater value for they
are part of our social context. These systems may have to do with color, shape, design,
as well as cultural symbols associated with the belief systems of the different ethnic
groups. Figures may also bear rich and distinct intellectual and emotional associations
built around them in the course of the history of a group. The contextual plane likewise
situates the work in the personal and social circumstances of its production. The work
may contain allusions to personal or public events, conditions, stages, as well as
influences, such as persons and literary texts, that have been particularly meaningful to
the artist. Themes and sub-themes may be derived from biographical experiences
significant to the artist and particular biographical data may play an important part in
understanding the work and its view of reality.

The work is firmly situated in a particular society and time, "in its social and historical
coordinates" (Wolff 1983). The work is viewed or studied in relation to its epoch, to the
prevailing world views, ideologies, issues, concern, trends, and events of the day. It
situates the artist with respect to the debates of his time. The work may have allusions or
references to the personalities and events of a particular period, and convey attitudes of
espousal, approval, indifference, or rejection with respect to these. For the work of art
conveys values, artistic, religious, social or political. Art then is not value-free. All art
contains values of one kind or another. Abstract art, likewise, may express world views
and values, as Mondrian's abstraction conveyed his neo-platonism, as he considered his
paintings symbolic of the underlying harmony and order in the universe. On the contrary,
Pollock's gestural abstraction valorizes spontaneity and the release of kinetic energy and
non-rational impulses. Values such as spontaneity as against discipline and order,
mystery and elusiveness as against clear definition, informality as against the formal,
transitoriness as against permanence--these may be found in abstract art, at the same
time that these can be viewed in the light of the events and intellectual trends of the time.

Finally, a single work of art is often more completely understood when it is viewed in the
context of the artist's entire body of work, when it is juxtaposed and compared on the
semiotic, iconic, and contextual planes with works of the artist in the same period, in
different periods of his/her career, and then with the work of contemporaries. This is
because the meaning of one work may become part of a larger body or work or of an
integral artistic vision. In comparative intertextuality, the work of art reveals its numerous
ramifications of meaning.

D. THE AXIOLOGICAL OR EVALUATIVE PLANE

The axiological plane has to do with analyzing the values of a work. After the
understanding of the work is the difficult task of evaluating it. Often, it is facile to say that
evaluation involves the two aspects of form and content. But this division is theoretically
conservative because the two are conceptually separated. It is semiotic analysis involving
the basic semiotic plane, the iconic plane and the contextual plane that shows how
meaning is produced through the interrelationship of the signifiers (material features) and
signifieds (concepts, values) in the unique pictorial sign that is the work of art. At all points,
meaning is anchored in material form. Again, empirical, physical fact is value-laden and
value ensues from material fact. Thus, the first consideration in evaluating would be to
what degree the material basis of the work conveys meaning or particular
intellectual/emotional contents.

The evaluation of the material basis of the work (form) reckons with standards of
excellence in the use of the medium and its related techniques. Some questions may be
posed. Is the medium (which includes surface, ground, or material block, instruments,
tools, pigments calling for appropriate techniques) used with a high degree of skill? Is the
particular medium chosen in view of the semantic potential of its combined properties
which is realized in the completed work? With respect to medium, the viewer/critic rejects
the traditional hierarchies laid down by the 19th century academies in which oil on canvas
and sculptures in marble were valorized over other media. For all visual forms, whether
paintings, prints, posters, illustrations, cartoons, and comics have their standards of
technical excellence to which a work may be on par or below par. Understanding and
evaluating the technical side of the work requires a familiarity with and sensitivity to the
properties of medium. Thus the viewer/critic should devote time to researching on and
observing art-making, even doing exercises of his or her own. At the same time, one
makes allowance for the transgressing of conventional processes and norms in the quest
for new creative and expressive resources.

The usual consideration of form also touches upon the principles of organization which
are traditionally identified as rhythm, harmony, balance, and proportion. However, one
has to bear in mind that these tenets were laid down by the 19th century European
academies established by the royal courts to preserve the hierarchic order based on
unchanging principles. In their philosophical framework, the classical ideals of harmony,
balance, and proportion were not only aesthetic values but also socio-political values
divinely decreed as "in the nature of things." The problem is that these values, while they
retain a continuing but limited validity, are often erroneously absolutized as the be-all and
end-all of art itself. Meaning may suffer in the interest of these values when, in fact, the
validity of their application is only relative to the semantic requirements of the work.
As has been stated, the meaning of a work is a complex of concepts, values, and feelings
which derive from reality and have a bearing on it. Because of this, the evaluation of a
work necessarily includes the analysis and examination of its axiological content
constituted by values which become fully articulated on the contextual plane although
these had already been shaping on the basic semiotic and iconic planes. And since values
are expressed in the work which holds a dialogic relationship with reality, the assessment
of these values is a necessary part of critical evaluation. It then becomes possible that
the values of the artist and the viewer do not quite coincide or may even be contradictory.
Of course, there exists a whole range of attitudes on the part of the viewer/critic to the
work, from full espousal and enthusiastic endorsement at one pole, through degrees of
appreciation and indifference growing towards annoyance and to vigorous rejection at the
opposite pole.

It becomes clear that, on one hand, the artist is not or should not be a mere technician
but expresses a view of life in his or her work. On the other hand, the viewer/critic is also
not a mere technical expert confined to the analysis of the elements, techniques, and
processes alone. The mature viewer or critic is one who must have, after long expression
and experience, arrived at the formulation of his own value system, his or her view of the
world and humanity which he or she has come to feel deeply and strongly about. As the
artist enjoys artistic independence, the critic/viewer also enjoys a measure of autonomy.
For, to be sure, the critic is not an appendage of the artist or a promoter or publicist, but
one who vitally contributes to the dynamic dialogue, interaction, and debate in the field of
art and culture as these intersect with other human concerns, among them the political,
social, and economic. The viewer/critic, as also the artist should, places a value on the
capacity of art to influence and transform society.

An underlying premise then is that the viewer of art, in particular the art critic, needs to
have thought out fully his own values or the guiding principles by which he or she lives as
a total human person. The artist likewise creates his or her art not as a fragmented human
being or purely technical specialist, but as a total thinking and feeling individual. If the
critic simply describes and appreciates the work's technical excellence (if it is indeed
worth appreciating on this level) and stops short of making value-judgements, then he or
she is a formalist critic who isolates the work from its larger social environment--in which
case, she or she divorces art from life and its concerns and promotes the condition of art
feeding upon itself. But when the critic makes evaluations of the work relative to his or
her own philosophy and vision of life and the world, he or she is only fully realizing the
dialogue between the work and the viewer, after completing the process of semiotic
reading, understanding, and contextualizing the meaning of the work.

Since art directly or indirectly conveys meaning and seeks to influence one's ideas and
values in subliminal ways, then it is but an essential role of the viewer/critic to be able to
recognize these subtle devices and assume the prerogative to articulate and evaluate
them in relation to his own world view. As the critic/viewer fully recognizes and respects
the prerogative of the artist to express his or her ideas and feelings, the former also
reserves the right to agree, disagree, or have reservations in relation to his own values
and view of the world. It is to be pointed out, likewise, that it is possible for a critic to truly
understand and appreciate a work viewed in its socio-cultural context without necessarily
espousing its ideas, in the same way that one can appreciate a zen work of art without
being a Zen Buddhist oneself. But in contemporary art produced in the context of our time
and place, the expression of the critic's dissenting view is not to be construed as a
manipulative strategy or an imposition on the artist but as only bringing out the
oppositional stance in the dialogic relationship or art and viewer, art and reality.

Indeed, the responsible viewer/critic must draw from a rich fund of knowledge and
humanism. The Filipino art critic may uphold nationalist values in art reflecting national
identity and the people's interests vis-a-vis foreign interests that seek to maintain their
domination in all fields. The democratization of art may be promoted in themes that
enhance the sense of human dignity especially of those engaged in basic production and
that espouse their liberation from exploitation. Democratization can also be in the use of
popular forms and mediums that make art accessible to the larger number. There is
likewise a liberative thrust in themes that espouse the cause of traditional minoritized
sectors, such as women and children, animist and non-Christian ethnic groups. The critic
may uphold the role of art as an emancipating influence rather than as pure commodity
or decoration catering to elites.
But what if, as may often be the case, interpretations of the work by different critics do not
coincide or are contradictory? Does this mean then that our critical process is unreliable?
There may be a general consensus on the basic semiotic and iconic planes or in the
analysis of form, but differences may lie in the contextual and axiological analysis. This
is because in all societies riven by opposing interests such as ours it is only to be expected
that artists and viewers/critics adhere to different value systems which affect the way that
they look at art. In the long run, these differences which are basically ideological stem
from the different positions, that is, their class sympathies and affinities, that artists, critics,
and people in general take in a society's relations of production.

Thus, after the critic/viewer has gone through the three planes, the semiotic, the iconic,
and the contextual, it is possible to determine the semantic focus and parameters of the
work and, from these, project its horizon of meanings, its boundaries and limitations, its
semantic implications and ideological orientations, its progressive or conservative
tendencies with respect to human development. The critic thus arrives at a sharper
understanding of the work of art which, while it has a semantic core has parameters that
are fluid and continually being expanded and modified. Art projects a horizon of meanings
relative to both the artist and the critic/viewer in terms of intellectual background,
emotional maturity, and cultural range in the humanly enriching dialogic experience of art.