TRANSFORMATION OR COEXISTENCE


When looking at one of these works of art we may be considering the transformation of what is inside or perhaps we should bear witness of the coexistence of two realities within it. When contemplating at these works of art we see geometric forms on the picture’s surface as well as an identifiable image within it. There is also an element of transformation we would have to consider.

Thus considering these inner elements we may have to think about the element of time involved in understanding the work of art. Time unrelated to a possible narrative about the subjects inside it, but rather related to a cognitive process or understanding which has to do with anything we would call processes of perception.


This is when we should calculate how long it takes for our eyes to behold the image presented in the work of art.

And perhaps it is also then when this element of transformation takes place. It thus happens at a fixed time and only then, for our cognition of the work of art is a one way process. We add to our knowledge, never subtract from it or, perhaps even better, our knowledge piles up but never decreases. We ‘pile up’ these pictures on our mind, we form an experience from them.


After this transformation occurs we are able to recall the initial appearance of these elements within the work of art or, rather, we recall the way we approached the work of art in the first place. This recollection responds to a rationalization of our visual experience of the work. Thus, in the long run, we consider these elements as belonging to two different sets, two sets of elements within the picture frame.



It all may involve psychological phenomena described by Freud (see next paper on omnipotence of thoughts). We discover that these elements conform to what appears to be two realities. One revealing itself in two dimensions and the other one unveiling in three dimensions. Then we would be looking at an image where two realities coexist. Two realities verge on one image.

The work of art before-cognition element, that is, the transformation element, no longer exists. Instead, we could say it has turned into a coexistence of the two realities. That, we may say, is a quality of the work of art itself.




OMNIPOTENCE OF THOUGHTS


In “Totem and Taboo” Sigmund Freud defines “omnipotence of thoughts” as the psychic phenomena behind the animistic world of primitive people.

Animism (from Latin anima. Soul) relates to a mental interpretation of primitive people´s perceptions of the world. They are aware of a human soul existing after death. By providing objects with a soul, they try to come to grips with the world they perceive. This is how Animism works, firstly as a way of knowing their world and then as an attempt to assimilate it. “He knew what things were like in the world, namely just as he knew himself to be.” (“The Standard Edition Of The Complete Works of Sigmund Freud.” 1913. Vol. XIII, p. 91.)


Remaining evidence of this visions of the world are the primitive paintings of animals on cave walls created not in order to ‘please the eye’, but to conjure them up.

Freud mentions ART as the only field in our civilization where the omnipotence of thoughts has been retained after thousands of years.