Disorder and Pattern

  Karena rangka dan pola yang terbuat dari pilihan terbatas elemen, maka ada implikasi bahwa pola dibatasi dalam beberapa cara. Gangguan, musuh pola, maka dapat dianggap tidak terbatas. Disorder tidak memiliki pola sendiri tetapi potensinya untuk membuat pola yang terbatas. Douglas berpendapat bahwa dalam contoh pertama kami menyadari gangguan yang menghancurkan pola yang sudah ada, tetapi juga bahwa ia memiliki potensi besar. Hal ini membawa kita untuk melihat gangguan sebagai simbol dari kedua bahaya dan kekuasaan.

Crow, D. A., 2010. Visible Signs: An Introduction to Semiotics in the Visual Arts. 2nd ed. Switzerland: AVA Publishing SA. (p.147)

 

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Semiotics - The study of signs

Semiotics is the study of meanings, made through the creation and interpretation of signs. It can help us decipher the ideas and signs within an image, to better understand the image as a whole.
Popular Semiotics theorist, Roland Barthes, used semiotics to examine artefacts in the popular culture of the 1950’s, popularising the idea of semiotics.
Signs are generally made up of two things;

• A Signifier - a form of sign, and
• The Signified - the concept which the sign represents.

One cannot exist without the other.
There are various types of sign;

• Symbolic - the relationship between the signs is arbitrary - one does not resemble the other, and the connection must already be known.
• Iconic - the signifier seems to resemble the signified in some shape or form, or represents it.
• Indexical - the relationship is not arbitrary, but the two signs are connected in some way that can be observed or inferred.

Barthes identified two central kinds of signification;

• Denotation - that which is literal and obvious. What you can physically see in front of you.
• Connotation - the implied meaning behind the objects and ideas within an image, which can vary between individuals depending on social standing, ethnicity, gender, and an individual’s general understanding of the world.

‘Absolut Beauty’ denotes an image of a bottle of vodka, covered in cucumbers on a simple background. The cucumbers connote beauty, as they are often used in beauty regimes (the famous ‘cucumbers on the eyes’ treatment). The idea of ‘beauty’ is the signified element within the image, while the cucumbers are the signifier.
Image of Myra Hindley - this painting denotes an image of the infamous serial murderer, Myra Hindley, possibly her mugshot. However, the connotations come through the media in which it is painted - children’s handprints. The connotations of using small handprints to create the image are of innocence, childhood, and playfulness; all of which strongly contrast the image which they create - that of someone who took away these things. The relationship between the subject and the medium is symbolic in nature.

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The word is not only the purest

"Kata tidak hanya murni, tanda yang paling yg menandakan tetapi, di samping itu, tanda netral. Setiap jenis lainnya dari bahan semiotik adalah khusus untuk beberapa bidang tertentu kreativitas ideologis. Setiap bidang memiliki sendiri bahan ideologis dan merumuskan tanda-tanda dan simbol-simbol khusus untuk dirinya sendiri dan tidak berlaku di bidang lain. Dalam hal ini, tanda yang dibuat oleh beberapa fungsi ideologi tertentu dan tetap tak terpisahkan dari itu. Sebuah kata, sebaliknya, adalah netral sehubungan dengan jenis fungsi ideologis. Hal ini dapat melakukan fungsi ideologi apapun -. Ilmiah, estetika, etika, religius "

   - Valentin Nikolaevich Voloshinov, Marxism and the Philosophy of Language

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