SECOND NATURE
Objects, Interpretation, and Mood
Artworks usually require a tolerance for ambiguity. Even when paintings seem apparent at first glance, they can be revealed to be much more complex than we first thought. As Frank Stella indicated in The Re-definition of Art: “My Painting is based on the fact that only what can be seen there is there... What you see is what you see.” The object in a work of art: persons, things, and so forth, are often one of the most essential elements in the painting that serve for interpretation. This essay explains how I explore the relationship between objects, interpretation, and mood of a painting through analyzing and iterating the painting Interior with a Woman Combing a Little Girl’s Hair by Jacobus Vrel1622.
When I first saw this painting, I tried to identify and recognize things in the painting. The objects in the space are very minimal. Most of them are domestic chores items, but some items’ exact functions, placement, and ownership are ambiguous. While observing these objects, some inchoate vague emotions for the painting begin to rumble in my head. Even though these objects are ancient, their domestic properties evoke the feeling of intimacy and contemplation. Then, moving closer to work and back from it, more questions emerge: what might these objects represent or express? What is the possible relationship between these three human figures and the objects in the painting? Will the mood be the same if I change these objects?
To answer these, interpretation and imagination come to the forefront. The interpretation process is more like a problem-solving activity than a true-meaning-seeking activity. Instead of trying to find one true interpretation, I devised different interpretative aims to justify different approaches and reveal different meanings. For example, to try to make sense of the ring-shaped metal object on the ground. The different interpretations that can make sense of the function and placement of this object were made; It might be a toy belonging to the boy in between the Dutch door. It might also be a farm tool belonging to the family member for whom this boy is waiting.
The iteration practice further illustrates how the object could result in a different iteration and mood of the same space. When all these objects are removed in the first iteration, the intimate feeling of this same space is largely weakened. In the absence of the objects, the room for interpretation becomes much more extensive, and the process becomes much more challenging. In iterations two and three, I keep the domestic property of the space but modify the arrangement, density, and completeness of the objects in space. These modifications result in a different interpretation of the story of this space. The mood also changes from tranquility and intimacy to chaos and drama.
By analyzing and iterating the painting, I better understood how objects in the paintings guild interpretation and mood. I also acknowledged that Interpretations are not so much right but are more or less reasonable, convincing, informative, and enlightening.
Jacobus Vrel, Interior with a Woman Combing a Little Girl's Hair, oil on oak, 55.9 x 40.6 cm, 1654
“Empty” Acrylic painting on A2
“Object” Acrylic painting on A2
“Mood” Acrylic painting on A2
“Replicas ” Acrylic painting on A2
