A Semiotic Approach to the Paintings of Marta Whistler
by Dragan Milivojevic
University of Oklahoma

 

"Now art should never try to be popular.
 The public should try to make itself artistic." Oscar Wilde

 
   The assumption of this approach is that the special arrangement of a painting and its colors have a symbolic meaning of which an artist herself may not be aware. It is the viewers and the critics who by immersing themselves in a work find the depth of visual associations and meanings which are 'buried' in it waiting to be discovered and brought to life.

Painting 1

 

   The painting does not have a title which would restrict viewers' imagination and understanding of its meaning and symbolism. According to Greek myth, male and female were originally united but later separated forever.l Erotic love is but an unconscious longing for that original undifferentiated state. This desire can only be temporarily assuaged and after it is quenched male and female return to their individual lonely existence, conscious of never being able to realize this undivided unity.2 There is sorrow and frustration in this realization, in this everlasting, unrealizable yearning of the opposites.

 

Home     Next