Artistic Reception and Iconic Realism: Graffiti

Artistic Reception of the semiotic theory of iconic realism: 

1. The concept of meaning incorporates various levels of audience responses, directed by the artist, who uses literary, artistic, or musical design as a means to reach audience’s  sensory receptors. 

2. These develop into individual interpretations of a work of art and a deeper understanding of the conceptual elements. 

3. Variations of interpretation result from the reader, viewer or listener who responds to the material from disparate historical or social experience. 

4. Thus, the function of semiotic representation is the reflection of the society in which both the artist and the audience reside.

5. When an artist places an icon in a realistic, non-standard setting, the audience takes note, participating with the artist in a way that introduces  awareness of the need for cultural reform. This application is what I have termed, Iconic Realism.

All of above photos from Google Images

Graffiti is an excellent example of iconic realism.  Here, you will see some examples of graffiti found around New York City. If you look closely, you will notice the juxtaposition of iconic ideals with cynicism, reflecting a mind-set present in an inner city truth, painted on the exterior walls of buildings in one of the world's most significant cities, New York City, New York. These art renderings bring into focus significant dichotomies within our society. 

Riders of the MetroNorth train pass by such examples of graffiti on a daily basis, look out their windows, and subconsciously receive these forms of transformative art. This occurs not only in New York City, but globally. 

                                            

Bluebirds and iconic realism

Once, I went for a walk down my street. It felt wonderful to be walking passed the farms again after a long cold spell. The goats, sheep, llamas, cows, horses all seemed to perk their heads up and smile at me as I treaded once again upon the familiar path. It was brisk, for I live in New England, and winter doesn't want to give up its stronghold just yet. However, over my head flitted two beautiful bluebirds, their brilliant blue feathers glistening in the bright, early Spring sun. At this moment, I realized why these are my favorite birds, and I knew this walk was a blessing.

Then, it occurred to me. These bluebirds were another example of iconic realism, for bluebirds are iconic associations with joy, summer, and general calm. They were flying from tree to tree, realism. Yet, it was so bitterly cold outside. This juxtaposition brought to my attention the cultural dilemma of the importance for us humans to maintain appropriate stewardship of our world. So many beautiful, valuable, fragile creatures' lives are at stake. 

Thank you, Dear Lord, for this lovely lesson!

St. Joseph's Table and Iconic Realism

Photo from Catholckey.org

March 19 is St. Joseph's Day....I know, in some circles, this might be known as the reprieve following St. Patrick's Day. Now, what could be more iconic than a table laden with Italian delicacies? The way in which this becomes iconic realism is the setting (time) of this tradition, Lent, a time normally set aside for fasting. However, at a St. Joseph's Table, there is an abundance of wonderful food, in honor of the patron saint of families. The cultural aspect which becomes magnified by this juxtaposition of excessive edibles during a period of fasting would be the focus on familial bonds, friendship, and love, which is why many donate collected food from the Table for those in need. If you have never experienced a St. Joseph's Table, I highly recommend it. The aroma alone will revive your senses, providing a true contemplation of life's adventure and the generosity that can envelop the human heart. 

Saint Patrick and Iconic Realism

Stained glass image of Saint Patrick 

from Cathedral of St. Patrick, Oakland, California

Saint Patrick was born in Britain in the late 4th or early 5th century and died March 17, 461.  Abducted by Irish pirates when he was in his teens, he escaped and returned to Britain. [1]

In his book entitled, Confessions, he wrote:

"The love of God and his fear grew in me more and more, as did the faith, and my soul was rosed, so that, in a single day, I have said as many as a hundred prayers and in the night, nearly the same. I prayed in the woods and on the mountain, even before dawn. I felt no hurt from the snow or ice or rain."

"I saw a man coming, as it were from Ireland. His name was Victoricus, and he carried many letters, and he gave me one of them. I read the heading: 'The Voice of the Irish.' As I began the letter, I imagined in that moment that I heard the voice of those very people who were near the wood of Foclut, which is beside the western sea-and they cried out, as with one voice: 'We appeal to you, holy servant boy, to come and walk among us.'"

The Irish Gaelige term for 'voice' is 'glor,' so his vision would have been a glorious one, for sure. 

How does Saint Patrick's life demonstrate iconic realism? 

1. A British lad ends up in Ireland during the Dark Ages. 

2. This placement was an unusual one for a British lad. 

3. Eventually, he was ordained a priest by St. Germanus, the Bishop of Auxerre, with whom he had studied for years, and he was later ordained a bishop. He was sent to take the Gospel to Ireland as a means of transforming the pagan mindset to one of Christianity. He used the shamrock to explain the Holy Trinity to the people. 

Quoted material is from Saint Patrick's book, Confessions, and cited from the following website: https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=89

[1] Dates of Saint Patrick's life and death are from the following website: https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=89

Literary Resonance, Revolution, and Iconic Realism in Sydney Owenson's novel, _The Wild Irish Girl_

Photo from insert of the 1888 publication of The Wild Irish Girl by Sydney Owenson

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 existing in her historical reality. They speak in their native Irish Gaeilge in opposition to standard English, leading her audiences to literally hear a recognizable semblance of truth. This truth can then become 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, echoes within Owenson’s novel. By means of her characters and their circumstances following the British Act of Union 1801, Owenson demonstrates the necessity for humankind to relate to one another on a realistic rather than a symbolic level. 

William Butler Yeats' "The Tower II" and Iconic Realism

I took this photograph of Thoor Ballylee a few years ago.

 

I pace upon the battlements and stare

On the foundations of a house, or where

Tree like a sooty finger, starts from the earth;

and send imagination forth

Under the day’s declining beam, and call

Images and memories

From ruin or from ancient trees,

For I would ask a question of them all.

(“The Tower II,” ll. 18-25) [1]

Here, Yeats places himself in the midst of the Tower, the earthen icon of the human soul. Born of the ancient source of all life, this soul’s power rests in the simplicity of a child’s voice, echoing for the “blind man’s joy.” This simplicity is so powerful that “certain men, be[come] maddened by those rhymes,” (l. 42) a magnificent union of the duality existent in imagination and reality. 

To further illustrate this duality, Yeats incorporates the iconic representation of “The Great Memory” to signify the reality of human consciousness. The speaker is out of control while at the same time, he is in control, “Come old, necessitous, half-mounted man;/And bring beauty’s blind rambling celebrant” (ll. 91-2). This ambivalence, accented with alliteration, leads to Yeats’s revelation that from chaos comes order and from dissonance, consonant harmony. He continues with his reference to human consciousness with an allusion to his recurrent swan’s song: “When the swan must fix his eye/ Upon a fading gleam, /Float out upon a long/Last reach of glistening stream/And there sing his last song” (ll. 141-45). 

The central theme of this poem is the realization of life’s paradox that art is both illusion and ideal. When Yeats reveals through the alliteration and rapid meter of “Man makes a superhuman/Mirror-resembling dream” (ll.165-66), he draws upon his references of the Easter Uprising and WWI in which reality of life recreates itself through the restructuring of chaos. 

Yeats’s iconic-bucolic imagery of singing birds in the introductory and concluding lines of “The Tower” reinforce his message of universal harmony that echoes throughout the sphere of life’s transformations. His final lines, “Seem but the clouds of the sky/When the horizon fades,/ Or a bird’s sleepy cry/ Among the deepening shades” (ll.193-96), indicate his reconciliation of life, art, Ireland and reality. It is not by accident that this poem leads directly to “Meditations in Time of Civil War.” 

In “The Tower,” Yeats illustrates the necessity for humanity to acknowledge the reality of life’s paradox and to nurture human consciousness with eyes wide open to human frailties as well as the glorious harmony present in one's creative endeavors.

[1] Yeats, William Butler. The Collected Poems of W.B. Yeats. (Hertfordshire, G.B.: Wordsworth Editions, Ltd., 2000)


[2] Lakatos, Jeanne. The Theory of Iconic Realism: Understanding the Arts through Cultural Context. New York: The Edwin Mellen Press, 2008, pp. 54-55.