Wednesday, February 12, 2003

Art Meta-Information: Physical Manifestation in the form of the predication Special We are continuing our look into how people indicate an object is special... I am also doing this with an eye as to pick up on these techniques myself for my own art. In many cultures there are particular objects that are considered special (sacred, important, venerated.) Theese objects and their type and degree of specialness may be very different. As one looks at many of these objects, from a variety of cultures, one may begin to see similarities in how the culture treats them. There may be certain visual ways the cultures attempt to convey the importance of these objects or venerate them. What I am trying to explore is certain commonaliites in form and decoration. My reseach does not include more that a cursory understanding of the cultures. Further, I am not suggesting that similarities in design correspond to similarities of culture, nor am I saying that all objects have all of these characteristics. In order to narrow my exploration I am mainly concentrating on containers of special objects. These containers may take many different forms. Here's a few examples showing the wide variety: The Gau used in central Asia (Tibet, Mongolia, Bhutan, etc..) is a small but ornate case for carrying prayer text, diagrams. (More). A particular bowl to hold nuts for divination is used by the Yoruba people of Nigeria. (More). Salt cellars in Europe were used to keep the once valuable commodity, salt. Cumdach or book shrines, were ornate covers for books created in medieval Ireland. (More.) Phylacteries are small boxes worn by some Jews on their heads. They contain a prayer. (More). Stupas in Southeast Asia may often have a relic and other things within. (More). In studying these and other objects I have noticed several areas of similiarity: 1. Symmetry of Form and Decoration. Many objects are symmetrical and often vertically symmetrical. 2. Tripart Division of Form. Objects tend to have a definite base, middle, and top. 3. Highly Decorated. The surfaces of these objects tend to be richly decorated and ornamented. 4. Patterns. The decoration consists of simple elements repeated numerous times to create complex patterns of decoration. 5. Animals. The objects often have animals, monsters, gods, of human figures on them. 6. Writing. Often letters and numbers are found on the object. We'll look at each of these in depth and perhaps add more to the list... 10:09:34 PM