Representation

The problem of representation points to how articular historical or everyday realities are presented through specific visual conventions. Let's think of the relationship between the United States as a country and a map of the US. The map uses cartographic conventions in presenting us an image of the physical reality. The representations is a fattened reality, reality transformed into a new, subsidiary entity. But there can be millions of different kinds of the Maps of US. In fact a Google Image search of "US Map" gives about 31,600,000 images in a matter of a few seconds. How "representative" are these maps of the country? A map (thus a representation) is always a utopia- something more orderly and more ideal than the real world. (Omur, Nov 23, 2008, 5:30 pm)

Representation for a particular entity takes on innumerable forms, because it is a materialization of personal or group expression. Through this concept, authors may display and highlight particular features that suit their own purposes, thereby using representation as a political or religious tool. Expression may also draw influence from each author’s unique interpretations of the subject, thereby characterizing representation as an artistic tool. Regardless of the types of motives behind it, representation engenders products that embody themes their authors wish to put forth. This process is a result of selective emphasis, choosing to include particular traits while excluding others. (Emily Li, November 28, 2008, 6:40 pm)

Representation in its broadest sense refers to the transformation of an idea into a tangible reality that subjectively interprets the idea based on the bias of the whatever or whomever originated the representation. For example, the Hanging Gardens serve as a representation of paradise based on the way in which Mesopotamian culture viewed the concept of paradise. Because representation is a tangible translation of something intangible, the end result is always open to dispute. (Alex Yuly, December 1, 2008)

Representation carries an intuitive general meaning as describing the portrayal (commonly, but not exclusively artistic) of something that exists, in tangible or conceptual form, in the real world. For example, the representation of a dragon breathing fire is just as valid as the representation of a dog wagging its tail. The limit on the viability of this intuitive definition is the colloquial usage of the word “represent.” We can say that the dog represents loyalty or that the color red in an abstract painting represents anger, yet these examples must be necessarily excluded from the domain of a useful definition for the term.

Antonia Phllips and Richard Wolfheim delineate the various qualifications of representation: the subjects is either an object or an event, something specific or a kind of thing, as well as either real/historical or fictional. A representation must involve “a certain kind of experience of response, partly or wholly perceptual, that the picture elicits in a spectator” similar to the experience or response to the actual thing being represented.

These limitations on ‘representation’ differentiate the term from 'symbolism' and 'iconography.' The descriptive attributes of a thing (red, circular, mouth-watering) refer to its representation, while the meaning of the thing (temptation) is symbolic and its significance in the painting (a biblical allegory meant to preach chastity obedience) is described by its iconography.

Also useful is their requirement that a representation must be a reflection of artistic intention rather than subject to a viewer’s interpretation, just as symbolism and iconography are necessarily products of their historical context. The manner of representation that can be attributed to an ancient civilization, therefore, can be used as evidence to describe its visual culture, just as the way an artist chooses to represent his subject is a reflection of the idea he wishes to express.

--Lauren Schleimer

Antonia Phillips and Richard Wollheim. "Representation." In Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online, http://www.oxfordartonline.com/subscriber/article/grove/art/T071532 (accessed December 2, 2008).