Practices of Looking: What is Real? And what is not?

Have you ever questioned reality? And what is reality? Is it subjective, or universal?

Is there only one reality, or are there millions of realities? Who's right and who's wrong?

What if we were all right? Or wrong? What if there was no reality...

In Art, the question of reality has long existed. Many argue that everything figurative representing something that exists in a very accurate way, is considered to be depicting reality. On the other hand, abstraction is considered to be surreal, and not faithful to our true vision of the world. But who's to know what our vision of the world is?

Paul Cezanne 

Look closely at his Paul Cezanne still life painting. It supposedly depicts reality. Life is real. That, we are sure of. In this painting, everything is dead. To me, it does not represent my reality, which is full of colors, full of life. I never spent more than five minutes staring at a bagel or an onion in a still composition at home, in school, wherever!

Jackson Pollock – Number 1

That, on the other side, is a Jackson Pollock painting. According to the theory I explained, it doesn't depict reality. But, when you think about it, it represents something chaotic, intertwined shapes, and shapes that overlap. When you look at it, you're scared, and nervous. This painting reminds you of something. It reminds you of our world. It reminds you of the wars. Of our daily stress. You could even see tree branches in some amazonian forrest somewhere on the globe. It does tell us a real story. It can be seen as reality too. 

Reality... Isn't it subjective in a way? What is reality to me, can be a myth to you, or anyone else. We always question the truth and reality of things. So what is real? And is merely an illusion?

Unknown Couple

Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore

When looking at these two images, one could argue that the celebrity couple, as part of their job, and in order to keep and increase their fan base, often like to project the image of a happy couple with their partener. Out of the two pictures, one would think the first is more real, because it shows a couple from our everyday lives! Well, I say both are fake. Why? Because you can never see reality in a picture. You can't draw conclusions based on a single visual. But that's what we do everyday, isn't it? Judge, draw conclusions, without ever questioning what we all perceive as being the ultimate unquestionable truth.  

Also, it is important to mention the "epistemes", when talking about reality. An episteme means that truth changes in different eras, different times, because what was true in 1800 is not reality nowadays. And vice versa. Here. Take Leonardo Da Vinci for example. He made the first real studies of flight in the 1480's. He had over 100 drawings that illustrated his theories on flight.

He designed the Ornithopter flying machine which never got actually created, eventually. His aim was to show how man could fly. The modern day helicopter is based on this concept.

The Ornithopter - Da Vinci 

At the time, when Da Vinci doodled the ancestor of the helicopter, such a "machine" was futuristic and had absolutely NOTHING to do with their reality. No one, not even Da Vince himself, believed it could actually exist one day. 

Helicopter

Helicopters are everywhere today; we even take the plane very often. Flying isn't a myth anymore for us today. It is part of our reality. It was never part of Da Vinci's!

Dali is a surreal painter. Everything he painted, or almost, doesn't exist the way he painted it. However, there is this one painting he did, the one representing his sister at a window. Everyone says it's realistic, and not surreal, because he respects the rules of perspective in it, and because everything in it is as we see it. 

Dali - Woman at the window

In reality, if you look at it closely, this painting does not depict the truth. Look at how close the sea is. Now look at the window. It only has one window pane... Look at the reflection of the glass. It reflects a house somewhere when it is supposed to reflect the inside of the room. One last detail. The room. It is completely empty. 

Persistence of Time

 In the next two paintings I am going to discuss, Dali's surrealism is at its best. He does not pretend to paint things that he saw, but rather interpret what he sees and believes. The persistence of time shows us how when everything else has disappeared, time is still there. Everything we do is regulated by time. Time controls us. 

Perceptual anamorphic is Dali's speciality. He also likes to create optical illusions like that in the painting above. If you look at it from afar, you see two women's necks and their hair. But as you get closer, you notice that the woman in the background is not a woman, but two distant trees. Reality, illusion? It is hard to draw the line.