Human expression
The need for human beings to connect and to communicate seems innate; if they were not, mankind would not seek out others with whom to forge bonds. One of the basic forms of human association is via communication, and the ways in which humans have learned to communicate are as varied as the individuals involved. A quick glance into any history book will reveal that during the early periods of humankind’s existence, while people struggled to keep themselves clothed and fed, they took time to create works of art—be it on the walls of caves or via carved figures. As modernized as our society has become, art remains an integral part of the means by which humans communicate and relate to one another.
Alfred Jensen’s series The Number Paintings (2006) “looks at how the artist used Pythagorean theory, the Mayan Calendar, and other numerical systems as well as Goethe’s color theory in his work,” but this description of the exhibit is devoid of the complexity that is present within Jensen’s pieces and the ways in which they may touch a viewer (Joy, 2006, Alfred).
The painting Demonstration VIII (1961) was my favorite piece from The Number Paintings (2006), but my attachment had little to do with math or Mayans, and while I admit that part of my being drawn to this piece was due to its colors, this had far more to do with personal preference than with Goethe. I made a connection to this piece because it reminded me of some of my favorite childhood things: pie and crayons. Admittedly, this reaction is less-than sophisticated; however, the fact that I made these initial connections with Jensen’s piece caused me to spend a good deal of time examining it, and once drawn to the piece, the numerical sequences and their meanings fascinated me.
While Jensen may have set out to create an artistic commentary on “clockwork,” “circumference,” and “diameter,” this would have been meaningless to me had I not been drawn to the pie shape and the colors of the piece. It seems then, that one element of the way in which people manage to communicate (i.e. to express themselves and to be understood) is through similarities in taste: in this case, the primary factors were shape and color.
Elizabeth Murray’s series Paintings 2003-2006 (2006), “are vibrant abstractions, sometimes of figures and everyday objects, combined to create visual metaphors of the world around us” (Joy, 2006, Elizabeth). This statement was easier for me to attach myself to than was the statement regarding Jensen’s exhibit. The description regarding Murray’s show gave me permission to enjoy what I saw while gently seeking a connection between each piece and the way I view the world. I found myself particularly fascinated with Muddy Waters 8:05 A.M., because of the green and yellow hands I perceived in the piece. The more I looked, the more what I saw reminded me of Sylvia Plath’s poem, “Metaphors.” Plath’s piece is often referred to as a riddle to which the “answer” is that she is describing her pregnancy (Comley, et al, 2004). As I continued to view Murray’s piece, I could not help but see the image of a pregnant woman—whom I imagined to be single—as she struggled against the current of society.
Given the title of the piece, I presume that I have mistaken what Murray created; however, what I did see certainly fits with the description of what her work is supposed to convey. Based on the artwork of Murray, it seems as if another means by which understanding and expression are accomplished are via works that spark the imagination.
Jerome Robbins’ ballet Fancy Free is set “in New York City on a hot summer night,” and involves “three sailors on shore leave [who] pick up two girls [when] a fight develops over which sailor is to be left without a partner”; however, without experiencing the dance and music of the ballet, it simply cannot be fully appreciated (Notes). While the comedy of the story-line was entertaining, the magnificent dancing was the reason this piece was memorable.
Through their jumps and twists and turns, I was drawn into the competition as if I were part of it. As each sailor took his turn, I urged him on while holding my breath that his performance would stand up to those of his competitors. Having real people acting out a series of events in a live performance is clearly a powerful form of communicating. A solid performance brings the actors and the audience together in a way that few other experiences can, and when the show is successful, the participants have expressed themselves and the audience has understood them.
When I was younger, my best friend and I used to make up all kinds of things to do. Sometimes we’d pretend we were from a foreign country and make up accents all afternoon. Other times, we’d pretend we were grown ups and act out the lives we imagined for ourselves. One of the funniest things we ever did was to spend an entire afternoon communicating without talking or writing. The rules were simple: anything one of us wanted to say had to be conveyed through the use of gestures and expressions. As you might imagine, it was far more difficult to “talk” than we thought it would be, and while it was fun, it was extremely challenging. The truth is, we spent more time laughing over not being able to understand one another than we did “communicating.”
Things became especially silly when I realized I had to go to the bathroom. While it might seem that I could simply get up and go, this would have been rude: no one leaves a room without telling the person he or she is with where he or she is going, and because we took our games seriously, it was up to me to communicate to my best friend that I needed to go use the restroom. Initially, I approached it like a game of charades.
I figured it would be easy to act out the word “rest,” and once I’d gotten that far, I could simply point to our surroundings to get the word “room” out. Keep in mind that while I was trying to act out the words, I had to GO. I suppose that I was squirming a bit, and perhaps my clues were not as well planned as I originally believed—after about three minutes, when I was still working at “communicating,” I became desperate. I did the little kid thing: I crossed my legs together and pointed in the direction of the bathroom. Something in that last attempt worked, and my best friend understood me. I rushed off to relieve myself to the sound of laughter.
The means by which people communicate are as varied as the participants. Whether viewing a work of art, attending a ballet, or playing games with friends, communicating is all about making certain that one’s expressions are understood by one’s audience.
References
- Comley, N. R., Hamilton, D., Klaus, C. H., Scholes, R., & Sommers, N. Introduction. Sylvia Plath. Metaphors. (2004). Fields of reading: Motives for writing. (6th ed.). Boston: Bedford, 2004. p. 377.
- Jensen, A. (1961). Demonstration VIII. The Number Paintings. Pace Wildenstein Gallery. Retrieved December 1, 2006, (2006). The Number Paintings. Pace Wildenstein Gallery. Retrieved December 1, 2006, from
- Joy, J. B. (2006). Alfred Jensen: The Number Paintings. The Number Paintings. Pace Wildenstein Gallery. Retrieved December 1, 2006,
- (2006). Elizabeth Murray: Paintings 2003-2006: The Number Paintings. Elizabeth Murray: Paintings 2003-2006. Pace Wildenstein Gallery. Retrieved December 1, 2006,
- Murray, E. (2003-2004). Muddy Waters 8:05 A.M. Elizabeth Murray: Paintings 2003-2006. Pace Wildenstein Gallery. Retrieved December 1, 2006, from
- Murray, E. (2006). Elizabeth Murray: Paintings 2003-2006. Pace Wildenstein Gallery. Retrieved December 1, 2006, from
- Notes on Fancy Free. Robbins, J. (Choreographer). (1944). Fancy Free. [Ballet]. American Ballet Theatre. Retrieved December 3,
Alfred Jensen’s series The Number Paintings (2006) “looks at how the artist used Pythagorean theory, the Mayan Calendar, and other numerical systems as well as Goethe’s color theory in his work,” but this description of the exhibit is devoid of the complexity that is present within Jensen’s pieces and the ways in which they may touch a viewer (Joy, 2006, Alfred).
The painting Demonstration VIII (1961) was my favorite piece from The Number Paintings (2006), but my attachment had little to do with math or Mayans, and while I admit that part of my being drawn to this piece was due to its colors, this had far more to do with personal preference than with Goethe. I made a connection to this piece because it reminded me of some of my favorite childhood things: pie and crayons. Admittedly, this reaction is less-than sophisticated; however, the fact that I made these initial connections with Jensen’s piece caused me to spend a good deal of time examining it, and once drawn to the piece, the numerical sequences and their meanings fascinated me.
While Jensen may have set out to create an artistic commentary on “clockwork,” “circumference,” and “diameter,” this would have been meaningless to me had I not been drawn to the pie shape and the colors of the piece. It seems then, that one element of the way in which people manage to communicate (i.e. to express themselves and to be understood) is through similarities in taste: in this case, the primary factors were shape and color.
Elizabeth Murray’s series Paintings 2003-2006 (2006), “are vibrant abstractions, sometimes of figures and everyday objects, combined to create visual metaphors of the world around us” (Joy, 2006, Elizabeth). This statement was easier for me to attach myself to than was the statement regarding Jensen’s exhibit. The description regarding Murray’s show gave me permission to enjoy what I saw while gently seeking a connection between each piece and the way I view the world.
I found myself particularly fascinated with Muddy Waters 8:05 A.M., because of the green and yellow hands I perceived in the piece. The more I looked, the more what I saw reminded me of Sylvia Plath’s poem, “Metaphors.” Plath’s piece is often referred to as a riddle to which the “answer” is that she is describing her pregnancy (Comley, et al, 2004). As I continued to view Murray’s piece, I could not help but see the image of a pregnant woman—whom I imagined to be single—as she struggled against the current of society.
Given the title of the piece, I presume that I have mistaken what Murray created; however, what I did see certainly fits with the description of what her work is supposed to convey. Based on the artwork of Murray, it seems as if another means by which understanding and expression are accomplished are via works that spark the imagination.
Jerome Robbins’ ballet Fancy Free is set “in New York City on a hot summer night,” and involves “three sailors on shore leave [who] pick up two girls [when] a fight develops over which sailor is to be left without a partner”; however, without experiencing the dance and music of the ballet, it simply cannot be fully appreciated (Notes). While the comedy of the story-line was entertaining, the magnificent dancing was the reason this piece was memorable.
Through their jumps and twists and turns, I was drawn into the competition as if I were part of it. As each sailor took his turn, I urged him on while holding my breath that his performance would stand up to those of his competitors. Having real people acting out a series of events in a live performance is clearly a powerful form of communicating. A solid performance brings the actors and the audience together in a way that few other experiences can, and when the show is successful, the participants have expressed themselves and the audience has understood them.
When I was younger, my best friend and I used to make up all kinds of things to do. Sometimes we’d pretend we were from a foreign country and make up accents all afternoon. Other times, we’d pretend we were grown ups and act out the lives we imagined for ourselves. One of the funniest things we ever did was to spend an entire afternoon communicating without talking or writing. The rules were simple: anything one of us wanted to say had to be conveyed through the use of gestures and expressions. As you might imagine, it was far more difficult to “talk” than we thought it would be, and while it was fun, it was extremely challenging. The truth is, we spent more time laughing over not being able to understand one another than we did “communicating.”
Things became especially silly when I realized I had to go to the bathroom. While it might seem that I could simply get up and go, this would have been rude: no one leaves a room without telling the person he or she is with where he or she is going, and because we took our games seriously, it was up to me to communicate to my best friend that I needed to go use the restroom. Initially, I approached it like a game of charades.
I figured it would be easy to act out the word “rest,” and once I’d gotten that far, I could simply point to our surroundings to get the word “room” out. Keep in mind that while I was trying to act out the words, I had to GO. I suppose that I was squirming a bit, and perhaps my clues were not as well planned as I originally believed—after about three minutes, when I was still working at “communicating,” I became desperate. I did the little kid thing: I crossed my legs together and pointed in the direction of the bathroom. Something in that last attempt worked, and my best friend understood me. I rushed off to relieve myself to the sound of laughter.
The means by which people communicate are as varied as the participants. Whether viewing a work of art, attending a ballet, or playing games with friends, communicating is all about making certain that one’s expressions are understood by one’s audience.
