Reading Between the Lines
Is a Visual Language Possible
I had high hopes for speaking in images when I launched my project of visual equations in the 1990’s. In the image above; how are you reading the type, the gaze, the hand gestures…what is the message or dialogue? It was so interesting to have a discussion about an image and see how it was being read. Is this image criticizing advertising as a pernicious tool, or exploring how we communicate through words or gestures, or … Thirty years later in the context of reels, streams, and stories ; how does a static image command any attention? Likely it is consumed as a cool graphic and our hungry eyes move on. When I first started teaching I was concerned with an educational system in elementary and high school that crushed every creative bone in a kid. The consensus centred needs of collective learning combined with an emphasis on STEM compressed visual art learning to a Math teacher having students colour within the lines. Neither of my kids had any formal visual art instruction in elementary school and both went to art high schools…that’s a whole other story, where those are today.
I saw our work in Illustration as redemptive and powerful, we were developing a language that was vital and necessary as technology flattened the visual culture into screen sized jolts. Fifteen years ago I was evangelizing Illustration because we spent more time reading a hot sauce label than we did an image and our world was in desperate need for visual literacy and a collective language to cross the boundaries and barriers of differences. I could see in my own kids education how we were prioritizing one form of literacy. I don’t know where you saw the tide change, but in 2012, in the Illustration program we discussed the web, copyright and the changing business environment for Illustration in our first Illustrationism Conference. Literacy and visual literacy were in full retreat in our progressively attention addled times.
But, I am an optimist and I still believe in the power of visual images to lead us through this ever darkening maze. It is going to take a full court press to reclaim what is meaningful and powerful in human expression in writing, poetry, dance/live performance, music, film and visual art. The secret weapon is drawing. Christoph Niemann is a Berlin based artist and illustrator and in a recent tweet (not sure what to call these posts on X now) he provided a beautiful metaphor about drawing and A.I.—-
Drawing is a difficult but beautiful dance: when I look at these images I see a lot of mistakes I wish I could correct. But I also realize that some of these mistakes accidentally capture a detail better, than if I had handled it more academically correct.
The reason I love looking at other people's art is because through the art I can witness their dance: the intent to depict a scene, the struggle, the craft, the mistakes, the lucky shots. And that's why I doubt I will ever be excited about Al generated art. Al is about finding shortcuts and achieving a goal more efficientlly, and some of the results are visually impressive (as is a sunset or the foliage of a forest).
But for me art is not only about the final result.
It's about the dance of intent and process. And I don't think there's such a thing as dancing more efficiently.
We have rebuilt Babel, or rather a virtual Babel permeates our social world, offering the illusion of meaning and connection. We have a language embedded in our hands that can sketch out a map for us that lies dormant. The visual Babel is capturing our attention while keeping our hands full by tapping, swiping, and scrolling the never ending feed. But we have not evolved out of our bodies and our imagination, despite the new tech cheerleaders. Our hands still have the muscle memory of the cave drawings and our first attempt to speak through images.