Jasper Johns’un Kışkırtıcılığı: Resimsel İfadenin Temsilî Sınırlarını Zorlamak

Year 2020, , 521 - 539, 16.11.2020

Başak Keki

https://doi.org/10.29135/std.678483

Abstract

Bu çalışma Jasper Johns’un kabaca 1955-1965 yılları arasındaki çalışmalarındaki görsellik ve sözel dil arasındaki ilişkiyi inceler. Sanatçının Numbers in Colors / Renkli Numaralar (1958-59), Gray Alphabets / Gri Alfabeler (1956), False Start / Hatalı Çıkış (1959), Jubilee / Jübile (1959), By the Sea / Deniz Kenarı (1961), Fool’s House / Ahmağın Evi (1962), Map / Harita (1961), The Critic Sees / Eleştirmen Görüyor (1961), Voice / Ses (1964-67), Voice 2 / Ses 2 (1982), Light Bulb / Ampul (1958) ve Watchman / Gözcü (1964) gibi işleri görsel ve sözel dillerin birbirleriyle ne kadar yakın ilişki içerinde olduğunu açığa çıkararak bize resimsel ifadenin sınırlarına ilişkin meseleleri araştırma alanı sağlar. Ancak bu alanlar arasındaki ilişki içerisinde yoğun olarak kesinti, karmaşa ve gerilim de barındırır. Herhangi bir görsel sanat eserini doğru bir şekilde değerlendirebilmek için eninde sonunda bakma alışkanlıklarımızı askıya alıp bakma eyleminin kendisine has karmaşıklığını fark etmek durumunda kalırız. Johns’un eserleri de bakma deneyiminin çeşitliliğine (görmek, seyretmek, selamlamak, okumak, saymak, incelemek, ezberlemek, casusluk yapmak, röntgenlemek, gözünü dikmek vs.) dikkat çekerek bize görme alışkanlıklarımızı sorgulatır. Bu çalışma, Johns’un eserlerini bu denli kışkırtıcı kılan özelliğin görsel alemin kendi içinde saf bir alan olmaktan ziyade sürekli olarak sözel dil ve diğer duyuların etkisine maruziyetinin vurgulanması olduğunu iddia eder.

Keywords

Jasper Johns, resim dili, görsel, sözel dil, temsil, resim sanatı

The Provocation of Jasper Johns: Pushing the Representational Limits of Pictorial Expression

Abstract

This paper explores the relationship between visuality and verbal language in the works of Jasper Johns roughly between the period of 1955-1965. Works such as Numbers in Colors (1958-59), Gray Alphabets (1956), False Start (1959), Jubilee (1959), By the Sea (1961), Fool’s House (1962), Map (1961), The Critic Sees (1961), Voice (1964-67), Voice 2 (1982), Light Bulb (1958) and Watchman (1964) provide us with fertile ground to explore issues pertinent to the limits of pictorial expression by revealing how visual and verbal spaces are intricately interwoven. However, the relationship in between also embeds a great deal of tension hosting constant interruption and violation. For a fair evaluation of any visual artwork, we end up having to suspend our habitual ways of looking and realize the complexity of the basic task of looking. These works challenge our vision by making us question the diverse experience of looking (seeing, beholding, saluting, reading, counting, studying, memorizing, spying, voyeurizing, gazing etc.). The paper claims that what grants Johns’ art its provocative power is the realization that the realm of the visual is never a pure space but is constantly influenced by verbal and other senses.

Keywords

Jasper Johns, pictorial language, image, verbal language, representation, painting

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