Inspiration and Iconic Realism

Once, as a member of the choir at my Church, I had the privilege of seeing the reaction of the congregation to the priest's homily. The way this poem illustrates iconic realism is that we have a real individual, sitting in the iconic Catholic Mass, listening to the rhetoric of a priest; however, the spirit comes not from the dogmatic words of the priest's mind, but from another spiritual source within that reality and thus illustrates that the mind, heart, soul connection rests within individuals, given to each person by God. Their inner response to relevant awareness can move consciousness in a positive direction, fulfilling their God-given purpose. 

The photograph is one which I took at the Cathedral de Notre Dame in Reims, France. It illustrates iconic realism and my poem below, too. There, an iconic statue and one refurbished, standing side by side, reveal enlightenment through art. Through this restorative project, talent reveals beauty in a cathedral, where souls are restored daily. 

Inspiration

Her eyes met those

of the congregation

bound 

by sententious words 

from a pallid pen

failing to touch

her heart or mind or soul.

So she breathed, 

inhaled the Spirit

who whispered to her,

“You are whole and wonderful.

Follow Him: our Lord and Savior."

Exhaling a slow smile,

she sang a silent, restorative hymn,

a renaissance de cœur.

© Jeanne I. Lakatos 

'Harmony of the Spheres' and Iconic Realism

I took these photographs in Ireland.

The following is an excerpt from a paper I presented at the Mid-Atlantic Conference for Irish Studies, years ago. It was the initial introduction of my semiotic theory to a public audience. I've placed information about this same topic on my other blog, which can be reached by clicking on the photo to the right.  

Human beings have an inherent need to interact with one another. Yet, they often find themselves struggling with what appears to be the truth of their perceptions. This ambivalence leads to the categorizing of experiences as a way to manage personal reactions. Philosophers, such as Immanuel Kant and Carl Jung, as well as mathematicians, such as Pythagoras and Kepler, have clarified this management in terms of music, more specifically, the mystical music of the spheres.

This concept illustrates that human communication parallels strict mathematical components associated with harmonics. To clarify the concept of harmony (music) of the spheres, one can consider a musical tone that contains the original resonating frequency with overtones creating precise harmonic variations.

Pythagoras’s theory contained the idea that there was a distinct mathematical configuration, establishing a relationship of the harmonic distances between the planets. These harmonics were considered the substance of a planetary influence on the human psyche. Centuries later, Johannes Kepler clarified this theory with his discovery that harmonic energy emanates from the sun, and there exists an exact harmonic relationship between each planet. Philosophers of the eighteenth century, such as Immanuel Kant, connect Kepler’s theory to the concept of human consciousness.

Music of the spheres represents the harmonics of human thought whereby one idea, emanating from a human being, extends to another throughout the centuries, and overtones or nuances of thought create a new harmonic of the original conception. This new harmonic, then, resonates with another interpretation, and soon, there are many new concepts formed that connect with the original resonating thought.

Although the concept of 'music of the spheres' illustrates that human communication parallels strict mathematical components associated with harmonics, iconic realism is a literary principle whereby an artist uses an iconic, yet real figure to represent another aspect of reality within the culture. This principle clearly resonates throughout literature as a means to express truth in a way that contains meaning while maintaining elements of the mysterious. Indeed, iconic realism intones throughout Sydney Owenson’s national tale, The Wild Irish Girl, written from a feminine cultural point of view shortly after the British Act of Union 1801.

Sydney Owenson engages in the construction of iconic realism through her interface with the concept of literary harmony elicited from the initial resonance of Irish revolution. She creates characters as iconic representatives of the consciousness that exists in her historical reality, leading her audiences to a recognizable semblance of truth and a basis for future writers to harmonize with the transitioning, historical significance of human consciousness.

Such resonance, which distinguishes between intense reality and strength of the human spirit through iconic realism, occurs in Owenson’s novel, demonstrating the necessity for humankind to relate to one another on a realistic rather than a symbolic level. As she reacts to her despotic environment, Owenson’s technique of using iconic structures in allegorical representations of Irish reality resonates through such 20^th century writers as William Butler Yeats and James Joyce. (Lakatos 2007)

Blade Runner and Iconic Realism

Photo from Google Images

The 1982 film, Blade Runner, directed by Ridley Scott, screenplay written by Hampton Fancher, is based on the novel, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick. In the film, set in a futuristic Los Angeles. Harrison Ford’s character, Deckard, has a mission to terminate 4 replicants. 

However, his iconic character of a rugged cop experiences a change of conscience as emotional turmoil enters his stark reality. This film contains several illustrations of iconic realism through the use of iconic images overlaid obscure, futuristic settings, that bring the audience to an awareness of the ambiguous reality of human strength and weakness. Moreover, this movie offers questions surrounding the applications of artificial intelligence.  

Sandy Hook Elementary School Tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut

(Photo from Google Images)



May the Perpetual Light Shine upon Them. 

On Friday morning, December 14, 2012, as I sat at my desk, grading final papers, I encountered some strange occurrences on campus and eventually received word of a shooting in a town nearby. The first news indicated that there were multiple shooters and one or more were unaccounted for. Overhead, helicopters circled the university as ambulances stormed down the street to Danbury Hospital, located two blocks away from my office.

By day's end, this entire area was in mourning, for the beautiful town of Newtown was now in the history books, not as the idyllic southern New England town we all love and cherish around here, but in the same league with Aurora and Columbine, Colorado and scores of other towns over which this cloud of horror has shrouded. As the names became revealed to us, many persons in the area had some connection with the, school, the victims or their families. We were all in mourning in the Newtown-Danbury area, once given the title as the 'Safest town in the State.'

No further words will come to me. Please pray for peace, understanding, and the power of love this holiday season.

Blessings,
Jeanne Iris

Charles Schulz's 'A Charlie Brown Christmas' and Iconic Realism

Click HERE to view a scene from the show.

Photo from Google Images of Charles Schulz's 

A Charlie Brown Christmas

A Charlie Brown Christmas by Charles Schulz illustrates iconic realism in that Schulz creates a film with  children, iconic representatives of the Christmas season. These children, however, are independent of adult supervision as they prepare a presentation of the meaning of Christmas for an iconic Holiday performance. 

Through his humble choice of a Christmas tree, the character, Charlie Brown, demonstrates the seasonal message of hope and love while the other children learn that through collaboration they, too, are able to understand the profound seasonal message of tolerance and good will as they create a delightful celebration of Christmas.

May you all be blessed with a lovely Holiday season!

Saint Nicholas and Iconic Realism

The Charity of Saint Nicholas 

by Girolamo Macchietti, c. 1580

Saint Nicholas ia an obscure individual, but the man that many Christians honor on December 6 was most likely the Bishop of Myra during Constantine the Great's era in the 4th century A.D.  It has been said that he performed various miracles in regard to saving children from the harsh realities of that time. Eventually, he was honored in Holland, where he was known as Sinterklaas and on to the American colonies, New Amsterdam particularly. New Amsterdam would become New York City. 

Now, how does this saintly man illustrate my semiotic theory of iconic realism? 

1. He is a realistic, iconic figure. 

2. His legend presents him as one who was able to perform miracles, placing him in iconic, realistic settings, not associated with those in power at that time. 

3. Even though he had certain administrative powers within Church Law, he chose to help innocent, less fortunate children in order to transform people's hearts and bring them closer to the Mind of God. 

James Joyce's 'Ulysses,' Winds of War, and Iconic Realism

Winds photo from Google Images

Inhaling and expelling of air exists in James Joyce's Ulysses chapter, Scylla and Charybdis, with the obnoxious expelling of high verbiage between Stephen Daedalus and the other scholars. Here, Joyce employs the use of linguistic empowerment of those who 'have' against those who 'have not'…or very little. Joyce, through Stephen, refers to those who do not understand the human spirit as the ‘vegetable world.’ He decides to stay firmly planted in the present, “through which all future plunges to the past” (Blamires 77). Here, Joyce reveals an interesting foreshadowing of worldly events with which only the current reader can relate, for within 25 years of this writing, the world will revisit Joyce’s own recent experience with WWI through WWII. 

How does this foreshadowing illustrate iconic realism? Joyce reveals highly intellectual ideas through intelligent characters who have issues communicating with those less intellectual, in other words, those who may view their world with a more common sense approach. Through this juxtaposition, Joyce actually pokes fun at the 'highly educated' as a group of snobs who have trouble relating to the majority of society. This was written between WWI and WWII, and much miscommunication was occurring in the higher echelons of governments worldwide. Joyce breathes his own consciousness through Bloom’s passages through time. He creates his personal ‘winds of war’ as he journeys through the dissonant aspects of his life on this June 16th. 

Blamires, Harry, The New Bloomsday Book: A Guide through Ulysses, Routledge, New York: 1997.

Walt Whitman and Iconic Realism

Adler Planetarium Astronomy Museum, Art Institute of Chicago

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1053/5097973137_718735c9c6.jpg

When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer

by Walt Whitman

When I heard the learn'd astronomer,

When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me,

When I was shown the charts and diagrams, to add, divide,

and measure them,

When I sitting heard the astronomer where he lectured with

much applause in the lecture-room,

How soon unaccountable I became tired and sick,

Till rising and gliding out I wander'd off by myself,

In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time,
Look'd up in perfect silence at the stars.

In Walt Whitman's poem, "When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer, the speaker leaves an astronomy lecture to step outside the fixed parameters of the building. Subsequently, this individual learns first hand of the beauty when viewing the same firmament of which the lecturer speaks but viewed simply with the naked eye in silence. By leaving the lecture, the speaker, with scientific information gained from the the astronomer's lecture inside, now enjoys the silent beauty with appreciated knowledge, but more importantly, with appreciation of the significance of the stars’ natural condition. 

This poem illustrates iconic realism in that the subject, real examples of constellations in a contrived, yet realistic setting, bring the audience and the speaker in the poem to a recognition that education of natural phenomena includes the experience of the real connection between humanity with nature. 

I warmly thank the Art Institute of Chicago for purchasing a copy of my book, The Theory of Iconic Realism: Understanding the Arts through Cultural Context.

A Christmas Savor

Holy Family by Rembrandt, 1640.  

Oil on wood. Musee du Louvre, Paris 

I wrote this poem after hearing a conversation in the grocery store about how many bottles of cloves a woman needed for her hot mulled wine. She thought 4 bottles would do. I thought to myself, "Good gracious, woman! How much mulled wine will you be serving at this party?"

Iconic Realism: God's Son, King of the Universe, born in a humble stable, nurses on His holy Mother, Mary as any baby does with his mother. Cultural dilemma highlighted: Through humility, we learn the power of God.  

Then, I pondered about the true meaning of celebrating Christmas, drinking today versus then, arrogance versus humility, and this poem arrived: 

A Christmas Savor

What shall I drink? Egg nog or grog?

What did the Holy Family drink

on that holiest of nights?

Did Mary lean over to Joseph

after giving birth to Jesus and say,

“Joseph, be a dear and pour me 

another glass of Chardonnay?”

To which Joseph replied,

“Mary Darling, all we have is 

a little mulled wine left over

from the party the other day.”

Or…

Did a father, proud

after such a long trip

offer his lovely bride a sip

of water to give her joy

upon delivering this

beautiful, healthy boy?

Did the baby cry

in a humble home

and looking to his mum,

so beautiful and warm,

snuggle up to 

her swollen breast

and savor sweet milk

from the Mother Blessed?

© Jeanne I. Lakatos

Happy Thanksgiving! (Click the photo below to hear some lovely Thanksgiving Hymns.)

Photo from Google Images

As Thanksgiving Day draws near, and we Americans reflect upon the many blessings in our lives, I extend my sincere thanks to all of you ladies and gentlemen who have visited this blog. Your kind words and gentle spirits have meant the world to me. 

God bless! ~ Dr. Jeanne Iris

"Rudy" of the Univ. of Notre Dame football team and Iconic Realism

Daniel E. Ruettiger, "Rudy" of the 1975 Notre Dame football team (Google Images) 

                                                 

'Rudy' portrayed by Sean Astin in the film (Google Images)

In the film, Rudy, Daniel E. Ruettiger's dream of becoming a member of the iconic Notre Dame football team illustrates iconic realism in that this student, a most iconic, unlikely candidate for achievement at the prestigious University of Notre Dame, placed himself in such a candidacy through his perseverance. This action led to successful achievement of his personal goals. Rudy wasn't the highest achieving student, so no one in his family thought he could achieve this goal of attending the Univ. of Notre Dame, let alone play on the football team, but he was determined, and that determination was an inspiration. The film, portraying his struggle to achieve his goals, has become an American classic, illustrating the cultural belief that a stalwart commitment to a positive dream can contribute to its becoming a reality. 

Humbly, I am thankful to the University of Notre Dame for housing my book in their library. 

You can hear me explain this analysis on my Podomatic page by clicking HERE. 

Frank Capra's 'It's a Wonderful Life' and Iconic Realism (Click this title to view bar scene from the film.)

Photo from Google Images: bar scene from film, It's a Wonderful Life

The 1946 film, It's a Wonderful Life, produced and directed by Frank Capra, illustrates iconic realism through the character of Clarence the angel. Here, an icon of virtue takes the good-hearted man, George Bailey, by the hand to show him the positive impact he has made on the consciousness of his hometown. 

This juxtaposition of the wealth in righteousness versus the poverty of the inane demonstrates how one individual's benevolent acts can positively affect the lives and ultimately the culture of a community. 

Sydney Owenson's "The Missionary" and Iconic Realism

In her novel, The Missionary, Sydney Owenson presents two religious communities, the Hindu community of 17th century India and the European Roman Catholic community during the Spanish Inquisition. Set in the year, 1620, after the establishment of the British East India Company in the lush jungles and arid desert of Western and Northern India, this tale illustrates a political genesis of European imperialism represented by the two central characters, Hilarion, a 25-year-old Portuguese Franciscan Nuncio and Luxima, a young, widowed Brahmin priestess.  

To some readers of this narrative, Owenson may appear to be telling an adventurous romance in an exotic setting to entertain her aristocratic readers, and this may be partially true. However, her romantic novel illustrates much more, for iconic properties of parochial dynamism reside at the core of each character’s restrictive community. These properties include the intense need for the Missionary to convert non-Christians to Catholicism and the deep conviction of a Hindu’s integration of natural and spiritual beliefs. Furthermore, Owenson creates an unrestrictive, fertile setting, where the Catholic missionary represents dogmatic and imperious Britain and the Hindu priestess, faithful to her own belief and community, represents the fervent hope for freedom of faith found in Owenson’s Catholic Ireland. 

Therefore, in her novel, The Missionary, Sydney Owenson illustrates the semiotic theory of iconic realism by representing two disparate icons, each placed within a realistic community, only to reveal a cultural reality that, without a truly spiritual connection, strict adherence to an intolerant dogma ultimately leads to the consequence of cultural cynicism.

Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie

The novella, Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie presents teenage students, who taste all that is forbidden in a 're-education' camp in the remote hills of China during the Chinese cultural revolution of the 1970's: music, literature, love, and freedom. Dai Sijie writes this beautiful tale as both a novella and a screenplay. Placing the intensive longing for education in a communist environment where knowledge was prohibited, he illustrates through the use of iconic realism that creativity and the hunger for knowledge of self and the world perseveres within the human spirit.  

White Wolves-"Fear" and Iconic Realism

Click HERE to view video

In this beautiful musical presentation by IceFloeSoul, with lyrics sung by Sarah McLachlan's mystical voice, the concept of stewardship once again appears through the illustration of the iconic white wolf in late winter/early spring, a symbol of freedom. This video lets the audience see this animal and hear its haunting voice, along with voices of other animals and sights of natural parallel structures. The juxtaposition of this visual and aural experience with contemporary music and words that describe a love theme provides the audience with awareness of the human connection to and responsibility for maintenance of a healthful environment, alerting us to possible limitations of freedom and corollary fear, if we are not watchful.  

Iconic realism in Music

Click the image above to hear ambient music with nature sounds

From my book, p. 77: 

A community will associate specific meaning with a sound, connecting interpretation with cultural significance. Continued and consistent associations with sound sources create iconic structures within the musical compositions of the community. These structures originate from musical instruments including the human voice, sounds of the environment, or synthesized sound sources, each source signifying a specific aspect of a community’s culture. 

A composer incorporates the semiotic theory of iconic realism through placement of the established iconic structure in a new, realistic setting, not traditional for such an iconic structure. The created dissonance alerts the listening audience to a new association, bringing awareness to a cultural dilemma represented by this innovative musical construct.  

Since music is an aural art form, the structure which music contains depends on two parameters: time and space. Sound waves travel through space within a specific time frame. Musical composition consists of metrical patterns, rhythm, arrangement of pitch variations conveyed through instrumentation and notation of musical dynamics changing the speed and intensity of those pitches. A composer determines the amount of time and space needed to express her/his art within these parameters. The semiotic component of music is most present in the genre of opera, in which music aligns with narration aurally and kinesthetically. 

The listener is an active participant in the musical flow, assimilating the sensory stimuli received from the sound source with the tonal information of the musical composition as well as the visual stimulation of the stage presentation. In this sense, the composers, the musicians and the audience collaborate albeit in an autonomous manner, forming an interpretation. 

Iconic realism in music involves the sounds of nature, outer space or any object not associated with a musical instrument, that has been synthesized with traditional musical instruments of an orchestra, jazz group, or contemporary musical group. The juxtaposition of the natural or tech sounds with the orchestral music illustrates an aspect of cultural reform, as established by the composer of the musical piece. 

We hear this kind of musical juxtaposition in many of the spa-like pieces that incorporate the sounds of wolves, birds, frogs with ambient, meditation music. Click the image above to hear an example from YouTube. 

James Joyce's Ulysses: Breathing in Natural and New Laws

Often, individuals perceive the world in terms of various human laws and semantic representations established by the community. These laws or rules of thought have been the subject of many philosophers throughout history. One such philosopher was Thomas Aquinas, who described differences between natural law and new law, represented by Christ. 

Dr. Taylor Marshall, who devoted his doctoral dissertation to Thomas Aquinas’ philosophical approach to such laws, states: 

Natural law is not the same as ‘laws of nature’ such as gravity. Natural law is an inward inclination toward the good and the avoidance of evil. It is a natural operating system. Thomas [Aquinas] explicitly teaches it is not chiefly a set of moral commandments. Rather it is an inclination humans have toward the good. (43)

Dr. Marshall continues with his discussion of Natural Law versus Thomas Aquinas’ interpretation of New Law in which he states: 

The New Law of the Gospel fulfills what is lacking in the natural law. It is required that every Christian seek to prayerfully persuade every man and woman on Earth to enter into the New Law of Christ.” (44) 

In his novel, Ulysses, James Joyce illustrates the manner in which human beings manage these laws, both Natural and New, as he weaves in and out of Leopold Bloom’s odyssey as if he were a spirit, acknowledging the human frailties and the responsibilities that many leave deposited along the wayside of their life’s journeys. He utilizes Bloom’s adventure to reveal this spiritual arc to the reader through a combination of language, human interactions, and observations.

As a reader of Joyce’s Ulysses inhales and exhales this linguistic masterpiece, an opportunity exists to affect change in the reader’s consciousness and perhaps even in one’s own community. Through his configuration of various linguistic and literary styles to illustrate various societal constraints, Joyce presents his reading audience with views of his own cognitive dissonance, represented as the other through Leopold Bloom, as well as the distinction between the Irish consciousness and that of other countries in Europe during the first world war years. 

Joyce releases his own constraints and embraces the possibilities associated with challenging stereotypes, linguistic barriers and cultural standards. He creates his own version of Nature and New Laws. His extensive references to elitist whims within this novel contribute to the iconic intricacies of dissonant cultures existing in the midst of a torn tapestry of Dublin and Europe as the people deal with the post and pre- world wars. Indeed, Joyce’s use of iconic realism throughout his novel, Ulysses, creates an awareness of the need for cultural change.

Marshall, Taylor, Ph.D., Thomas Aquinas in Fifty Pages, Electronic Copyright, Texas, U.S.A., 2013. 

Sándor Liezen-Mayer's Painting, "St. Elisabeth of Hungary" and Iconic Realism

Sándor Liezen-Mayer Saint Elisabeth of Hungary

Hungarian National Gallery, Budapest

During the Christmas season, we see paintings depicting the birth of Jesus. As a woman of Hungarian ancestry (Lakatos is Hungarian for 'locksmith'), I was intrigued by this beautiful painting of St. Elisabeth of Hungary by Sandor Liezen-Mayer. Here, we see a Madonna-like figure and her infant child in a lowly state with Elisabeth extending her royal cloak to them.

An example of iconic realism, this painting illustrates the humility of the origins of Christian precepts and the balance of power when this humility extends from all levels of society. Liezen-Mayer does this through the variation of color, shading, and interaction between the architecture and human figures. Tragically widowed at the age of 20, Szent Erzsébet devoted her short life to charitable works in Germany and Europe. She died in 1231, at the age of 24. Her feast day is November 17. 

"Don't Stop Believing" and Iconic Realism

Photo of a lake in New England

Any song that speaks of south Detroit draws my attention, and the classic song, "Don't Stop Believing" by Journey is no exception. The iconic images of the human struggle with emotions juxtaposed with light and enlightenment brings the audience of this song in tune with the perpetual dilemma of humanity's search for meaning. "It goes on and on and on and on."

Don't Stop Believing

by Journey

Just a small town girl, livin' in a lonely world

She took the midnight train goin' anywhere

Just a city boy, born and raised in south Detroit

He took the midnight train goin' anywhere

A singer in a smokey room

A smell of wine and cheap perfume

For a smile they can share the night

It goes on and on and on and on

Chorus:

Strangers waiting, up and down the boulevard

Their shadows searching in the night

Streetlights people, living just to find emotion

Hiding, somewhere in the night

Working hard to get my fill,

Everybody wants a thrill

Payin' anything to roll the dice,

just one more time

Some will win, some will lose

Some were born to sing the blues

Oh, the movie never ends

It goes on and on and on and on

(chorus)

Don't stop believin'

Hold on to the feelin'

Streetlight people

Kevin Smith's Film, "Dogma" and Iconic Realism

Photo from Google Images

Kevin Smith's 1999 film, Dogma, demonstrates the application of the theory of iconic realism to a film. Throughout this film, Smith challenges consciousness associated with dogmatic points of view by placing realistic depictions of Biblical iconic characters in settings unusual for these characters. He vacillates between humor and poignancy to elucidate for his audience an awareness of the difference between one's following a religious dogma and action associated with true faith.

Thank you, Veterans! 

From Father Dennis Edward O'Brien, United States Marine Corps: 

It is the soldier, not the reporter,

who has given us freedom of the press.

It is the soldier, not the poet,

who has given us freedom of speech.

It is the soldier, not the campus organizer,

who has given us the freedom to demonstrate.

It is the soldier, not the lawyer,

who has given us the right to a fair trial.

It is the soldier,

who salutes the flag,

who serves under the flag,

and whose coffin is draped by the flag,

who allows the protester to burn the flag..

Sydney Owenson (Lady Morgan): "Woman and Her Master"

From my paper, presented at the Southern American Conference for Irish Studies Regional Meeting, 2021:

The substance of my second book aligns my semiotic theory of iconic realism with the philosophical framework of the 19th century Irish author and poet, Sydney Owenson (Lady Morgan). Regarding creative expression, writers such as Sydney Owenson have had the opportunity to incorporate human experience in their art by tapping into the consciousness of humanity on multiple sensory levels. In her 1840 book, Woman and Her Master, Owenson makes the following observation: 

The acquirement of a physical elevation, in expanding the sphere of vision, and opening new and vast regions to the sense, obscures and diminishes the individual details comprehended in its grasp; so that intellectual and moral elevation, which has opened to the mind’s eye the wider fields of scientific research and of social combination, has caused the relative value of the smaller facts presented to its apprehension to be either overlooked, or mistaken. (WHM, p. 15)

Owenson’s writing demonstrates my semiotic theory of iconic realism as a means to enlighten her readers to the possibilities of making positive change happen with their own lives and possibly those within their communities by linking the sensory paths of consciousness with appropriate and positive action. She incorporates the Romantic concept of nature’s influence on humanity’s intellectual actions while she introduces the reality of political and societal constraints through her characters’ struggles with self-awareness. Through this conflict, Owenson personifies the dichotomous nature of glory in which her birth nation struggles with true autonomy and its native glór [1] to be heard.

[1] Glor is the Irish term for sound, voice.

Semiotic Theory of Iconic Realism: Definition and Illustration of Jesus the Christ

Below is my theory of iconic realism. 

I will bring it up to the front page periodically for reference purposes. 

Realism comprises authentic and independent aspects of the natural world, which individuals comprehend through sensory perception. The term icon describes a realistic person or realistic object, categorically perceived by a population as representative of a specific human activity or an object that bears significance to human activity. Iconic realism, then, involves the placement of an icon within the midst of a unique realistic setting, out of place for this particular icon, creating a static coalescence of the icon with the designated realism. Since both the icon and the realistic setting represent an aspect of the culture, the resulting dissonance between these two entities is the catalyst that generates enlightenment of a cultural dilemma.

An example of iconic realism would be as follows:

An artist places an image of Jesus the Christ, or a representation of this icon of the Christian Faith in the midst of a shopping mall on a Sunday afternoon, an aspect of the real world. The placement of Jesus in this setting would generate enlightenment of a cultural dilemma, reviving a new consciousness that exists within the public's cognitive dissonance of Christianity and a secular activity (shopping in the mall) that focuses on the reality of materialism, which becomes prevalent during this particular time in historically busy holiday season. 

Touchdown Jesus 

@ University of Notre Dame, Indiana, U.S.A.