I'm not too interested in forcing symbolism into the objects I paint, some may say that leaves them as mere attractive objects, and I say, so be it. If there is any symbolism in my objects, it is more by chance, that intention - as it comes after the fact.
For example, it suddenly dawned on me why I might have chosen something like chestnuts; they reminded me of a time of playful innocence in my early life. But I initially chose them for aesthetic reasons. They came to symbolise something after the painting was complete. So it was a kind of subconscious symbolism at work, not intended.
Symbols in still life paintings are evident, skulls are mortality, wine alongside bread is likely the blood of Christ, butterflies the soul or transformation. But this code seems too much about the artist, and I prefer my work to be less about the artist, I don't want cryptic works where viewer has to be detective, to seek out the meaning of the codes within created by the artist.
Its not always easy to tell what the artists meant in his construction of symbols, not at least merely by looking. We can hazard a guess, but symbols have multiple meanings, they can mean one thing for one artist, something altogether different for another.
So how can we know if we're on the right trail? We can tenuously try to grasp the meaning, but we may miss the mark. Some symbols have a universal meaning, others do not, and context of the object is all important.
If you sought universal understanding in your paintings, it would mean adhering to universal iconography. But that might risk creating stale repetitive art. Whereas creating a more unique art might mean creating non-universal iconography. In which case it might risk being inaccessible.
Of course the artist may add it stimulates the viewer into entering a dialogue with the work, that a viewer should be made to work, regardless of the outcome. But I want to offer instant gratification, not complex indecipherable meanings, regardless if it cerebrally stimulates the viewer. If I wanted to cerebrally stimulate the viewer i might do better to write for a pamphlet.
Alternatively we can do some research on the artist to find out the intentions. But how many of us do that we when look at a paintings? More often than not, I think we want to receive a paintings attributes there and then.
Finding meanings in paintings can be stimulating, even fun, but not all artists seek to create work embedded with encryptions.
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