Recycled realities : the exploration of source matieral in contemporary pictorial art

Abstract

The use in pictorial art of visual reference to prototypes and conventions in encoding reality forms the crux of the theoretical research. The theoretical component complements the practical research, which focuses on the interplay between perceptions of 'reality' and visual conventions in landscape art. The existence of diverse realities, based on individual ideological and sociocultural perspectives, is acknowledged. In encoding these realities, artists may draw on a reservoir of stylistic, formal and conceptual prototypes. Visual reference constitutes an allegorical procedure because the artist refers to an antecedent text in the representation of a particular 'reality'. Pictorial signs also rely on conventions to convey meaning. Both the perception and the artistic recreation of different realities may thus be regarded as recycling processes. In a world saturated with visual information, reference to prototypes is a powerful procedure which assists contemporary pictorial artists in the creation of meaningful images of current realities.