Art As Translation : 2 Approaches

As artists what we are doing is translating; painting or any form of art is one process and that process is the translation of something into something else.  Even conceptual and experiential works are subject to the structures of language and communication.  Artists are seers and for most seers it is not enough to just see, we want to share.  The thing about sharing what we see though is that it is not so simple since we are complex beings far beyond our perceptions.

Realizing that we are translating imbues us with a tremendous amount of freedom as we shall see.  The best way to make this clear is to look at what an artist sees and wishes to translate compared to translating poetry or text from one language to another.

Literally Dead or Alive

On the one hand there is the approach of literal translation.  With language it is in very clear terms of correct or incorrect, one word equals another word.  This can be useful for preserving things for future interpretations, for example preserving Tibetan texts (see The Asian Classics Input Project on my charities page) before they are lost or resurrecting ancient languages from past civilizations.  However if any of you have used Google Translate you know this isn’t always the most practical approach, even if the words are accurate it often feels cold and dry.  There is also the issue that cultures do not correspond perfectly with each other and language is a product of a culture so not all words have a clear equivalent.

In terms of painting, strictly “Academic” painting is similar to a literal translation.  There is a way to match colors and drawing to what you see in a very systematic way resulting in a near perfect translation of visual information.  As with Google Translate though this creates very rigid images that often lack a feeling of life.  However this method does have many benefits in that it is very teachable, it develops very useful skills that can be applied to other kinds of art and it is a very reliable form of documentation.

I Feel Interpreted

On the other hand their is the translation intended to convey the meaning or feeling of the original text in which case it is very much open to interpretation.  One translator of a poem may have a very different sense of what the poet was trying to convey and so will translate it slightly (or dramatically) differently than another translator.  This is very apparent when translating things like Haiku or books like the Tao Te Ching (see my article 5 Books Not About Painting). This approach can often lead to conflicting meaning debated among translators of a story such as Kafka's The Castle (also one of my recommended books at the above link).

Painting in this more interpretive manner has similar results.  For example if you have ever seen 2 plein-air artists painting the same subject you will notice each has a more or less different composition, style and emphasis.  One of the greatest masters of the interpretive painting approach was Rembrandt.  Careful study of his paintings quickly reveals that most of the lighting he depicts was not possible during his time since they did not have spotlights as the compositions would suggest with their very focused light sources.  While it would be possible to create some kind of focused light with candles or mirrors it is more likely that Rembrandt simply painted and glazed the areas he needed to to create these effects.  The down side to embracing this approach is that it can be so freeing that it is easy to feel overwhelmed by potential choices and not be able to pick one.

Literally Interpreted

Both of these approaches have there merit and it is even possible to mix them to varying degrees throughout a painting.  In fact this is not only an ideal approach but an unavoidable one.  As painters we are not robotic like a camera which simply captures everything via reflected light.  We must make choices even if we follow the most rigid academic style.  In addition our choices are influenced by our mood so we may even make different choices when painting a repeated object (I talk briefly about this in Monday's post on my painting blog).  The main reason for this is that we are using tools and our body which have certain restraints on what is possible and so we must negotiate with the subject and the tools to find a blend for the final translation.  It is up to each artist to evaluate where to compromise and how much of each approach will determine their final piece.

Check back next Friday when I expand on the way our body and brush determine how artists translate their subjects.

Be well

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