The article presents the analysis of the realization issues of the discourse characteristics in English modern art texts. The article observes the characteristics of English texts in art field and their peculiarities related to the extra linguistic components of the author of the text and the painter, while the former decodes the communicative act between the onlooker and the author of the work.
Keywords: discourse, extra linguistic aspects, communicative act, text.
Статья посвящена рассмотрению проблем реализации дискурсивных параметров в современном англоязычном искусствоведческом дискурсе.Вработе представлена характеристика текстов искусствоведческой направленности и их особенности в зависимости от экстралингвистических компонентов автора текста и художника, где автор текста декодирует коммуникативный акт между зрителем и автором произведения.
Ключевые слова: дискурс, экстралингвистика, коммуникативный акт, текст.
Anthropocentric direction being a key activity in linguistics since the beginning of the cognitive discourse period allows us to observe such a phenomenon as culture with the help of the language and through it due to the fact that the language seeks to witness the existence of people. It plays the role of the communicator between members of our society. Thus, it is possible to admit that the presence of language in art is fully appropriate, though it does not seem so transparent.
The beginning of the twentieth century and introduction of such inventing ideas as ready-made art established by Marcel Duchamp inaugurates the new order of the art world with the new postulates of the art discourse and its form. R. M. Frumkina suggests that we have come to the dead end. There is no place in human science for the main thing that creates a man and his mentality — culture [1, с. 104]. Therefore, the importance of the cultural factor as the leading one for the determination of this type of discourse is extremely worth mentioning in terms of distinct features designation in contemporary art communication.
If there is an opportunity to divide the art discourse into two parts it is absolutely possible to define its verbal and non-verbal sides according to the purposes of discussion. The latter plays the key role in the characterisation of this kind of discourse due to the non-verbal communication that happens in the visual field of conversation. It opens up the interest in the manifestation of language and its role in the current narrative.
However paradoxical it may sound, the creation of the verbal components happens on the basis of all non-verbal components), and the contributor also turns into a non-verbal element of communication. Their background alongside the scientific experience and mental paradigm interfere with the creation of the text producing a product of numerous factors where the duality of the art discourse engenders the fusion of the implicit and the explicit.
Speculating on the issue of the author`s presence in the text as the key figure it is also attainable to state that they act as a medium for our understanding of the art. Every item of the visual culture is a communicative act created to connect the artist and the onlooker. The writer verbalises this act in order to drag the picture through the prism of words and deliver the sense of what the artist was eager to say. The artist — critic dyad works from both sides for achieving their mutual goal — communication.
While observing the non-verbal side of the contemporary art discourse the presence of the following factors become more transparent: author of text, the artist (place of birth and living, past experience, education/parenting style, social beliefs and etc.), style and artistic movement of the work, time of creation, colour pallet, place of creation and its culture. From the writer`s side it is essential to consider the factor of education as art critics are usually after relying on their experience and education attained in the field of art. These components supply us with an opportunity to define the art discourse more thoroughly, look at it through the paradigm of the text placed in the context and scrutinise the latter more comprehensively.
One of the examples of such situation may be the passage written by David Pagel, an American critic: «In the west gallery, medium-size photographs by Grant Mudford fill your eyes with highly controlled explosions of color, texture and shape.» [2]
David Pagel attained a Master`s Degree of Art History in Harvard University that allows him to analyse the artwork with the help of his experience. Having organized more than nine exhibitions and written more than seven works he is constantly contributing to Los Angeles Times. His involvement permits us to observe the common mood of the artwork by Mudford. Such metaphors and linguistic means as «fill your eyes» and «highly controlled explosions of color, texture and shape» make the impression of the wide colour spectre as well as the mood attracting the onlooker.
Furthermore, it is highly profitable to focus on the book by British art critic Ossian Ward «Ways of Looking: How to Experience Contemporary Art». He produces there several approaches towards the process of decoding information that a contemporary artwork possesses. He highlights seven paradigms which help to perceive each piece of the visual culture [3].
Art as:
- entertainment
- confrontation
- event
- message
- spectacle
- joke
- meditation
Within these frames writers are able to decode the information, interpret the unique communicative act between the artist and the observer. They help the viewers define what is in front of them, what the creator wants to say, they give the tool for connection between the painter and the onlooker.
«Wherever we look, we`re constantly being bombarded with messages and signs: stop, go; eat here; breaking news; no parking; don`t get in my way (indeed, body language is even more ubiquitous than written signature). Even the clouds in the sky might be telling us something about incoming weather or which way the wind is blowing, but their formations and movements first need to be deciphered», says Ossian Ward describing the work by Miroslaw Balka «Play Pit» [3, с. 90]. According to the provided classification he associates the artwork with the «message» group and the text fully characterises this classification. The opening of the article about «Play Pit» depicts the role of the messages and imperative phrases piercing our day-to-day life. Accordingly, it is clear that the writer`s experience prevails in the choice of linguistic markers and is determined by its extralinguistic, non-verbal components.
In the book by Gilda Williams «How To Write About Contemporary Art» [4] the correlations between the author of the text, Manthia Diawara, and the painter as well as the theme of life experience and the artist`s place of birth.
In 1998 Diawara writes: «It also calls to mind the nineteenth-century Romantic poetry of […] Stéphane Mallarmé, which was taught at the time in the schools of Bamako. In fact, the man with the flower reminds me of certain Bamako schoolteachers in 1950s who memorized Mallarmé`s poetry, dressed in his dandied style, and even took themselves for him» [4, c.85].
Gilda Williams describes the passage in a following way: «The limpid tone of Manthia Diawara`s text, coupled with the author`s evident appreciation for the modish details observed in this portrait, suits Keïta`s elegant photography» [4, c.85]. She witnesses the connection between the author of the photo and the author of the text underlining Diawara`s attitude towards the works that awake nostalgic memories of his childhood in Bamako. The choice of the comparison of teachers is identified by the non-verbal characteristics of the writer. He weaves the components into his speech that were taken from his past experience and his childhood memories, so he places the text into the context situation. We treat him as a medium between us and the describing image abiding by the rules of the art discourse.
Summarizing everything mentioned above it is extremely precise to state that there is a certain peculiar connection between the writer and the text as well as with its extralinguistic components. Linguistic space is entirely dependent on the non-verbal essence as the listed preverbal factors exist on the basis of the contributor`s writing abilities, figures of speech, structures of sentences and the whole outlook of the text.
References:
- Есть ли у современной лингвистики своя эпистемология? / Р. М. Фрумкина [и др.]. — Текст: электронный // Язык и наука конца 20 века. — Москва: Российский государственный гуманитарный университет, 1995. — С. 419.
- Pagel, D. Art review: Lavi Daniel, Grant Mudford at Rosamund Felsen Gallery / D. Pagel. — Текст: электронный // https://www.latimes.com/: [сайт]. — URL: https://latimesblogs.latimes.com/culturemonster/2011/07/art-review-lavi-daniel-paintings-and-sculptures-and-grant-mudford-photographs-at-rosamund-felsen-gal.html (дата обращения: 03.04.2020).
- Ward, O. Ways of Looking: How to Experience Contemporary Art / O. Ward. — London: Laurence King Publishing Ltd, 2014. — 176 c. — Текст: электронный.
- Williams, G. How to Write About Contemporary Art / G. Williams. — London: Thames & Hudson, 2019. — 264 c. — Текст: непосредственный.
