Perception Quote

“To reproduce the three-dimensional two-dimensionally, however, is an excercise in abstraction.  As with all illusions, two-dmensional art is a critique on the limits of perception.”

GeoffreyBent- “Let there be Giotto”

This quote is taken from an essay by Bent about Giotto published in Boulevard-Vol.23.  Giotto is a 13th Century Itlaian painter who is credited with breaking many of the traditions of art in that time and forming a movement in painting that gets away from the flat, two-dimensional imagery and aspires to create the illusion of three-dmensions. I think that this quote is a reminder of how painting is still painting. we are reinterpreting and transferring what we see onto a two-dimensional plane.  Therefore, we are always at the mercy of our own perceptions, no matter our intentions.

Image:

The Kiss of Judas

Giotto (1267-1337)

Fresco, Scrovegni Chapel, Padua