The problem with words
“We have not been able to establish paintings general lexicon or grammar - to put the pictures signifiers on one side and its signifieds on the other” - Roland Barthes
Abstraction is a language that cannot be interpreted. Its syntax and grammar is constantly changing, depending on who is painting and who is reading. We can use words to describe the physical and formal properties of a painting. Though many critics and writers may try, we cannot communicate the whole experience of seeing it, and we should not attempt to.
Books are vehicles for language, and the bookshop offers the reader a hundred different experiences but these experiences are restricted and pre-determined by the writer. The story is the same no matter who the reader is. By replacing text with form the number of potential experiences is infinite and unpredictable.
Controlling the visual experience is almost impossible; the viewer/reader brings with them their own associations and interpretations which will always stand as obstacles to communication. Accepting this fact leaves the artist free to explore internal dialogues and relationships without the fear of ‘misinterpretation’
