Imagined Contexts - Art and Visual Perception

Abstract

The meaning of an artwork is always a direct function of its context. Whether we create or view an artwork, we automatically contextualise it in order position it and ourselves within a coherent complex of sensible parameters. Without a sense of context it is not possible to determine a meaningful orientation either subjective, objective, temporal or spatial. An artist or audience must first contextualise themselves in relation to the world beyond the frame before they can begin to create or interpret an artwork. Indeed the processes of creative and interpretive contextualisation, both in relation to the artwork and the surrounding world, are absolutely coextensive.