How Can We Analyse Abstract Paintings

Madeline
Sparrow Dissertation Unit Code VPF612

FHEQ Level: 6
Southampton Solent University
Faculty of FCIS
How Can We Analyse Abstract

Paintings?
1. Round about Midnight, 2004
Supervisor : Atsuhide Ito

Date of presentation : October 2014

Thursday, 19 May 2016
Madeline Sparrow Dissertation Unit Code VPF612
FHEQ Level: 6
Content Page
Acknowledgement 3
Illustrations List 4
Introduction 5
Introduction to Semiotics 6
Linguistics & Semiotics 7
Relationship between Semiotics & Art 8
Alternative Views 10
Communication 15
Contribution to Psychoanalysis 16
Application to Psychoanalysis & Art 19
Applying Theory to Practise 20
Conclusion 24
Bibliography 27

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Acknowledgement
I wish to thank Yvonne Trigg, who was my Dyslexia Support Tutor. Throughout my
time at Southampton Solent University, whenever I need support for essays and
dissertation, Yvonne helped me out. All the many hours we both worked together to
understand what thoughts were inside my head and to combine with brilliant support
to write everything out in the correct grammar!

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Illustration List
1. Round about Midnight, 2004 Oil on Canvas 213 x 162.5 cm
http://www.artrabbit.com/uk/events/event/2270/gillian_ayres
2. David Hockney, A Closer Winter Tunnel Feb/March 2006

http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2012/jan/13/art-david-hockney-in-pictures
3. Untitled Rome Series I 1997 Oil on canvas 243.8 x 213.4 cm Screen Print from Alan Cristea Gallery
website
4. Song of Hours Fled, 2009 Oil on canvas 152.5 x 152.5 cm Screen Print from Alan Cristea Gallery
website
5. The Ambassadors, Holbein 1533 http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/hans-holbein-the-younger-

the-ambassadors
6. Tender is the Night, 2006 Oil on Canvas 193.0 x 183.0 cm

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_zEUfV4jEFIw/SosOix00xJI/AAAAAAAAD9s/F44FnumS1n0/s1600-
h/gillian+ayres+oil+on+canvas+Tender_is_the_night_col.jpg
7. Antony and Cleopatra 1982 Oil on Canvas 289.3 x 287.2 cm http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/ayres-

antony-and-cleopatra-t03458
8. Hampstead Mural 80 feet long Google Search – Jerwood Gallery Gillian Ayres
http://lemondrizzle.wordpress.com/2012/11/18/postcard-from-hastings/
9. At This Stage, 2001 Hand painting of Carborundum etching 109.8 x 107.9 cm paper
http://www.rwa.org.uk/rwa-artists/academicians-listings/a/ayres-gillian/
10. I need a gentle conversation, Oil and acrylic on canvas, 2012 84 x 69 in / 213.4 x 175.3 cm
http://www.fiona-rae.com/paintings/2012-13/i-need-gentle-conversations/
11. The sun throws my sorrow away, Oil and acrylic on canvas, 2012 84 x 69 in / 213.4 x 175.3 cm
http://www.fiona-rae.com/paintings/2012-13/the-sun-throws-my-sorrow-away/

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Introduction
This dissertation is an exploration of abstract artwork using Semiotics. The old
Semiological techniques are considered in a new light in this discussion, as applied to
art and include insights from neurology and psychoanalysis. This enables an
insightful discussion of symbolism and responses to artwork. Methodology theories
of art provide a framework within which to examine and explain meanings of
artwork. However, Semiotics is not the only method used to analyse abstraction and
this exploration highlights the application of various techniques1.
Throughout history, the use of Semiotics has been limited in its application. The
methodology is a basis for understanding signs. Interpretation of art supports the
suggestion that artwork can communicate with the audience. This study seeks to
explore and analyse the processes of applying theories to interpreting abstract art.
Two artists of particular interest are Gillian Ayres and Fiona Rae.

1 There are many methodology theories to analysing art. Semiotics is the first common
one to be known for signs. However, formalism is the theory to be for favoured in the
process of art. By just recognising these two only, the most well used theory towards
abstract art would be formalism.

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Introduction to Semiotics
‘Sema’, the Greek word of “Signs”, is the beginning application to Semiology that is
‘Science of Signs’. It sounds like nothing compared to any term or text, but it is
possible to be used as a methodology in art. Signs can be expressed through
language, art, music, performance and culture. Mieke Bal and Norman Bryson believe
that ‘the core of semiotic theory is the definition of the factors involved in this
permanent process of sign-making and interpreting and the development of
conceptual tools that help us to grasp that process as it goes on in various arenas of
cultural activity’, (Schneider Adams, 1996:159).
One difficulty with this interpretation is that many would believe semiotics to be
useful in understanding historical art, rather than modern art. Roman Jakobson
believes,
‘Art has long escaped semiotic analysis. Still there is no doubt that all of the arts,
whether essentially temporal like music or poetry, like theatre or circus performances
or film showings, are linked to the sign. Whereas artists and writers historically create
in response to the world, the modernists abstract from the natural world’, (Schneider
Adams, 1996).
I believe as a result, modern painting does not resemble a recognizable world, and its
truth is located beyond resemblance. To interpret this idea, we can use this as a
metaphor that has corresponding as a mirror reflection. You cannot see abstract in the
real world. You never really see the distorted patterns or shapes, or even the world as
random passionate throws of paint by Jackson Pollock. What is brilliant about the
artist’s eye, we can interpret and reflect the world to our own worlds2.

2 However we cannot truly reflect the visual landscape, but possibly reflect the opinions that
drawn us to the landscape, the object or even the interactions with society. As an artist, you
can see the world as plain and simple, so to take from it and go beyond the mirror
resemblance, we use our imagination and creativity to expand the beauty of the world we see.
For example, a person may see skin as a block colour of white, brown or black. But an artist
can see shades of colours, lighting and shadows dancing over the skin, maybe the skin can be
thin with the highlights of blue veins or thicken with the harsh texture of working hands from
the person’s occupation.

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In order to analyse, especially abstract art, you can use the techniques of Structuralism
and Deconstruction. To me, deconstruction is what it states, to deconstruct or
dismantle any form of structure. The key concept here is to use deconstruction as a
way to find the foundation of the structure, such as a human skeleton, or the
foundation of a building. Without these structure in the first place, the human body
wouldn’t survive. The skeleton is the foundation to the body.
Linguistics & Semiotics

Swiss Linguist Ferdinard de Saussure identifies structuralism and deconstruction in
Cours de Linguistique Général (Course in General Linguists). He identifies the
elements as language (Lange) and speech (Parole). Lange is more limited to analysing
and experimenting, as language has boundaries. For example, (Schneider Adams,
1996) there is a limitation in that words label an item in one particular language.
However, once the noun has been translated into another language there is no further
to progress. Though, when sounding a concept, for example the ‘woof’ of a dog, this
sound will be easily understood by any other living creature. No matter who responds
to the artwork for example, once written down into text, it becomes a source of
knowledge and research for future reference.
Parole, on the other hand, brings more freedom to speech. There is an interaction,
possibly a performance to be played. To explain this, you could say that when a group
of school children come along to a gallery, the teacher and a possible tour-guide, can
allow introductions and discussions as to what the art is, the artist and the purpose
behind it. To continue the practise of Parole, you can add a new layer and see the
children interact more, sharing their own thoughts and opinions of how colourful the
art could be, or how odd the shape of a Henry Moore sculpture is, for example.
However, what makes this practise more intriguing is that there is never a wrong or
right answer to it. No matter how extreme the comments are, it is not fully stated or
quoted into text. The freedom of speech can make possibilities of questioning art
open-ended. It is never signed off or complete. Throughout history, art has
continuously been discussed and debated, even after the artist’s timeline. There may
be a limit to asking the questions over again, but the answers can defer or be totally

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new responses that have not been looked into before. This effect on the community
brings passion to discussions. No matter how small or how largely critical in debates,
this aesthetic effect for the community is still humming in the background, without
knowing Parole is being acted out.
Relationship between Semiotics and Abstract Art

To put these terms into practise with abstract art can be difficult and challenging at
first. It would seem there is a limitation to the structure. It consists of layers, lines,
colours, medium and texture, including the scale of the art. It is also related to which
tools, which canvas material or thickening of colours can also affect the structure.
This process of the painting is a reflection of reality that the artist reveals. David
Hockney created beautiful art, including the many paintings revealing the seasons in
one lane of landscape3. These paintings in particular, may reveal the landscape, but
the colours can differ from reality. There is more brightness and boldness in a huge
2. A Closer Winter Tunnel, Feb/March 2006

3 The Tunnel Series of paintings from one landscape country lane in different times of the
year in seasons of Yorkshire, 2005/6. He created many there, which were under the category
of Hockney on the trail.

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rainbow effect of colours, displayed by Hockney in his landscapes. This aesthetic
quality can be of very exciting and interesting to the world. Many artists have
different choices and views on how they see the world. Immanuel Kant stated ‘the
nature of the aesthetic response to beauty… affirmed its significance as a product of
the human mind’ (Schneider Adams, 1996:21). This is like an emotional connection
to the viewers, drawing them to the ideal beauty artists can reveal in their work.
Alongside of Langue and Parole, Saussure foresaw that language would be one of
many semiotic, or sign, systems. He identifies three aspects of language and names
them Signifier, Signified and Signification. The signifier is the sounded or written
element of the word, and signified is the word’s conceptual element. Signification is
the process of combining the letters with the idea of the image to make the linguistic
sign. For Saussure, there was no logical or natural combination between the signifier
and the signified, between the group of the letters and the concept of the image it has
labelled/ titled (Schneider Adams, 1996:161). For him, language was a ‘closed
system whose purpose was the communication of ideas’ (Schneider Adams,
1996:160).
If we apply Saussure’s elements signifier, signified and signification to Gillian

Ayres’s Untitled Rome Series I, 1997 we can visualise even with abstract art has
caused limitation is semiotics, that are some elements that we can recognise and
review. With the brushstrokes, you can notice this as the signifier that you can
compare it to the sounded or written. With a painting is can be seen as words of a
speech. A sort of coding which the brush is sweep up, down, and around the canvas to
create a language. As well as the signified, the mental concept to relate to the
brushstrokes in Ayres’s painting can evoke the viewer’s mind. These are not random
or out of the blue. There are signs to this. It takes effort and timing to identify the
mental structures of the imagery to the painting.

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3. Untitled Rome Series I, 1997
Alternative Views
Charles Sanders Peirce interprets these elements differently to Saussure. He uses the
concepts of ‘Icon’, ‘Index’ and ‘Symbol’. They differ from Saussure’s semiotics in
that Peirce’s philosophical system is highly complex. In order to explain the concept
of ‘icon’, it is important to understand the symbolic aspects of signs, which relate to
something we can recognise. In Ayres’s painting ‘Song of Hours Fled’, 2009, we can
recognise the relation of the real plant from Egypt (visited in 2006) with the distorted
version that Ayres has created in her signature style. Symbols are, therefore, an
indication of what is within the painting and could be seen as an index to the work

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and the creator. These include style, technique and the social, political and economic
contexts of the work. It elicits the viewers’ responses, as the audience react to
whatever is being presented. The documentation of the work, together with the
artist’s signature, is being continually re-created and re-cycled as these responses are
developed, shared and explored. Thus, Peirce’s elements can be useful tools in
allowing abstraction art to speak. 4. Song of Hours Fled, 2009
His symbols, however, depend on conventional meanings, as with Saussure’s signs.

The symbol is related to the iconography. Adams states, ‘It can be read as a link
between their semiological positions – between Saussure’s signifier and Peirce’s icon.
The painting itself is formally divided between word and image.’ (Schneider Adams
1996:164). An example of this would be the use of the distorted skull in Holbein’s

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‘The Ambassadors’, 1533. The skull can symbolise a number of interpretations
including death, evil, darkness or fear. However, in this painting the frontal view of
the skull is distorted, creating an illusion of a hidden message beneath the rest of the
subject. This icon, therefore, takes on a rather sinister meaning.
5. The Ambassadors, Holbein 1533
There is another approach to using signs within art. It begins with the interpretation
from the artists themselves, with what they believe the symbols and signs mean.
Andre Malraux agrees, stating, ‘Our conception of the writer begins with his work’
(Schneider Adams 1996:168). However, Merleau-Ponty disagrees, stating: ‘although
it is certain that a man’s life does not explain his work, it is equally certain that the

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two are connected. The truth is that this work to be done called for this life,’
(Schneider Adams, 1996:168). For example, Gillian Ayres’ experience in Egypt is
seen clearly in ‘Tender in the Night’, 2006, illustrating the influence of that landscape
on her style.
6. Tender is the Night, 2006
Meyer Shapiro explores the ‘interplay of text, commentary, symbolism, and style of
representation’ (Schneider Adams, 1996:171). An example would be if a painting
were to have a person gesturing with arms raised. The meaning could be endless. The
interpretation of this image belongs to the vertical axis of structuralism – to
Saussure’s associative relationship and to Jakobson’s ‘metaphor’. Taking one item
from the set of associations to interpret an element of a specific text would contribute

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to the sequence that proceeds along the horizontal axis. Schapiro applied his
observation, stating, ‘meaning and artistic form are not easily separated in
representations to the depiction of formality and profile views’ (Schneider Adams,
1996:171). He designated the relationship between a painted image and its ground as
a problem ‘in the semiotics of visual art’. For example, the use of overlay in
Palaeolithic art has been interpreted as the artists’ lack of awareness of the original
painting. However, the use of a bulge in a wall elsewhere to enhance volume of the
image being portrayed implies these early artists were, in fact all too aware of the
surface. In the present time, some artists are aware of the surface and structure and
refuse to frame their work. Jackson Pollock’s drips go beyond the frame, symbolising
that the image has the potential to move beyond its own outline4.
Norman Bryson believes, ‘What is suppressed by the account of painting as the record
of a perception is the social character of the image, and its reality as a sign’
(Schneider Adams, 1996:176). He argues against Shapiro’s iconological methods.
Like Saussure breaking the traditions of Edenic Hebrew, ‘The Platonic view of art as
mimetic skill that attempts to give form to an idea or to an essence of a thing has
influenced a strain of traditional art history and aesthetics’ (Schneider Adams,
1996:177). He continues, ‘Semiology is constituted by cultural signs, which, when
decoded, identify the breadth of its role in society… His semiology, (therefore),
includes cultural signs outside the work of art and their relationship inside of
it…semiotic methodology reveals what has been allowed to remain hidden in works
of art ... he calls on the discipline of art history to recognize the dynamic nature of
viewing art and the sign systems ‘circulating’ through image, viewer and culture’
(Schneider Adams, 1996:177). An example of this would be work by Gillian Ayres
during her time, living in North Wales (1981/87). When snowed in, during the winter
of 1981/82, Ayres created a piece of work called ‘Anthony and Cleopatra’, (1982).
This colourful piece suggests a sublime, powerful emotional connection with the art.
Ayres’ art appears distorted through her artistic eye. However, we all recognise the
painting as a landscape, in spite of her imagination.

4 Pollock and the movements he created in the process, was almost like a dance. By
viewing Ed Harris’s Pollock (2002) on film, you can be mesmerized by the movements
and the process. The outcome is nothing compared to how much the painting is moving
beyond the boundaries of the canvas and frame.

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7. Antony and Cleopatra, 1982
Communication
With communication, there are two regions of the brain in the Cortex (outer layer of
the brain) known as Broca’s area and Wernicke’s area5 (Brace and Byford 2010:296-
298). These two areas are very important to understand how the brain can enable
speech, language and communication. Pierre Paul Broca investigated Broca’s area.
His contributions helped a wide range of medical and other fields, including the Study
of Language. Broca’s area is where language is associated, at the Left Front

5 What is written in Neuroscience: Exploring the Brain (1996) by Bear, Connors and
Paradiso, ‘Although the terms Broca’s area and Wernicke’s area are still commonly used,
the boundaries of these areas are not clearly defined, and they appear to be quite
variable from one person to the next.’

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Hemisphere (Brace and Byford, 2010:296). This area is responsible for speech
production and control. One type of language impairment or disorder is known as
‘Aphasia’, the inability to have perfect fluent speech in the language of the person.
Words may be disjointed, such as people known to be dyslexic. They can be tongue
twisted in language due to Broca’s aphasia. However, they can be near to normal of
understanding language.
Carl Wernicke, however, discovered further impact on language and speech when an
area, now known as ‘Wernicke Area’ is damaged. Wernicke’s area is more towards
the middle side of the Left Hemisphere in the Cortex (Brace and Byford, 2010:298).
In addition to affecting fluency of speech, damage to Wernicke’s area will cause
difficulties with comprehension of other’s speech.
Contribution of Psychoanalysis
Semiotics, being a form of language, communication and signs, can be seen as a

methodology, useful in interpreting abstract art. Psychoanalysis has come to be
recognised as having a valuable contribution to make to this process. Psychology is
the method and theory used to analyse the workings of the human brain. Thoughts,
memories, emotions can all be connected to us through communication and language,
as in Saussure’s Langue and Parole. The brain can interpret body language and facial
expression, as well as the sounds we hear and how we can use our own voice to
speak. As science furthered its study of Psychology, we learned more as it developed
through the late 19th Century and early 20th Century. We learned from theorists such
as Sigmund Freud, Jacques Lacan and Donald Winnicott about cultural concepts and
characteristics within Psychology.
Psychologists have suggested that analogies can prove useful in understanding brain
and behaviour. An analogy is when something unfamiliar or difficult to understand is
explained by comparison to something that is familiar. Analogies of different forms
are commonly used to convey ideas to others (Brace and Byford, 2010:303).
Interpretation is the key concept that enables people to visualise signs. However, if
there was a symbol they didn’t recognise, then the use of ‘analogies’ can be helpful to

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the audience. The British Psychologist Richard Gregory highlights, ‘… the need to be
very cautious when speculating about what damage to individual brain parts can tell
us about the brain’ (Brace and Byford, 2010:303).
Symbolism can be used to interpret imagery as a form of signs to explain the meaning
of the art. There is a developmental link between external form and internal
experience. Kenneth Wright states; ‘in considering the question, it has to be
remembered that symbol development is a gradual affair, with the potential to
miscarry at any stage. In essence, the formation of a symbol involves the linking of an
external form with an inner experience’, (Wright 2009:4). To explain this, the artist is
portraying an object, for example, as the external form. The inner experience could
be the artist’s expressive response, expressed by their creativity. Freud’s terms for
this, thought as the ‘word presentation’ links to the ‘thing presentation’, reflected in
the form of art (Freud 1915) ‘This leads to the idea that such resilience is linked to
critical difference in levels of symbolic functioning’, (Wright 2009:13). An example
of this could be Hampstead Mural6.
8. Hampstead
Mural

6 Hampstead Mural is in size of 80-foot-long. Ayres created this piece for South
Hampstead School for Girls in 1957. She was provided for panels of board already
primed in gesso. Ayres used household paintbrushes, cans of Riploin and turpentine, by
working the painting on the floor.

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Donald Winnicott and Wilfred Bion offer an alternative means of understanding
human relationships. Bion talks about coupling structures in the maternal form which
link to an infant’s first hand observation. This can be understood through his idea
‘container-contained’ (Bion, 1965). To examine this, infant is being held by the
maternal form (mother), and this holding experience is an early stage of symbol-
formation, (Winnicott, 1960). To begin the development of the infant’s
understanding, like language, an infant learns through observing others around them.
In art, our understanding of the world has been influenced by the views and opinions
of society. Debates and disagreements about the foundations of our personality have
raged throughout history. Many religious authorities in the past asserted the spirit and
soul to be the personality’s location. For example, the Austrian Religious Authorities
questioned any new Scientific or Medical research back in late 19th century (Brace
and Byford 2010:289). They disagreed with Viennese Doctor Franz Joseph Gall, who
developed, “A Phrenology Map”. He believed that several different parts (regions) of
the brain could be identified by the shape of the skull. He suggests each area was the
cause or function of various characteristics and behaviour (Brace and Byford
2010:289).
Aesthetics play a vital role in life through offering a means of communicating

individuals’ experiences, thoughts and emotions. It generates a feeling of affinity
between the related forms in the art, such as the brushstrokes and a sense of mutual
recognition; the brushstrokes are recognised as a shape, which can even communicate
something between them. ‘The concept thus offers a communicational way of
thinking about primary process functioning, which is usually thought of
mechanistically as a primary and given form of mental life’, (Wright 2009). There is a
bond that is underlined through empathy, of what art can communicate to the
audience. Resonance is where the roles in preverbal and non-verbal experiences are
seen to be communicating in the artwork.
Kenneth Wright truly believes that he came to understand more about symbols by
reading how philosopher Susanne Langer interprets the icons. She has been of
enormous relevance towards psychoanalysis; “I read her account of the artist’s

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activity with great excitement, seeing in it an extended metaphor for the analytic
process,” (Wright 2009:8). Langer’s thesis is that art is portrayed as the ‘shapes’ of
human feeling through the complex structure of non-verbal symbols, which is
extreme and rebellious. Art is seen as an expression of emotion, with little difference
to sound language, like a grunt or cry. Langer is against the background of
behaviourism. This led her to detailed analysis in non-verbal symbols; how they differ
from language, the way they lacked conventional and socially agreed referents.
Langer describes art as like a dream; there is no agreed meaning, but the icons can
portray similar ideas. ‘Non-verbal representations of feeling are thus protean: for
example, in music, a specific emotional contour can generate unlimited musical
depictions, all loosely linked through formal similarity’ (Wright 2009:8).
Application of Psychoanalysis to Art
As society’s understanding and interpretation the way people behave developed, so

the question was raised as to how these insights related to art. Sociology &
Psychology can relate to art through the interpretation of imagery and is highly
significant. Schneider Adams (1996) suggests, ‘In the unconscious, concepts that are
distinct in conscious thought can be interchangeable’. Insight into how our brains use
language to communicate what is being experienced by the senses has been shown as
vital to enabling us to de-code and interpret the world around and, in particular, art.
In Winnicott’s perspective, ‘mirroring’ leads to offering an alternative concept of art.

Melanie Klein (1991) has highlighted this emphasis in destruction, guilt and
reparation. However, Wright believes that art can be a form of highlighting the self, in
which the artist is trying to express him or herself; finding the identity of one. This is
a non-verbal process and is understood by most because it brings back the idea of
early mother/infant relationships. This self-realisation between the artist and their
audience of the paintings is a necessary sign of being personal. In a Kleinian theory

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approach to art, interpretations would go deeper into the analysis of transition in
phenomena and attunement7.
Segal develops the theory of mirroring in art interpretation and states, ‘The
explanatory language of interpretation, which sets experience at a distance, with a
more embodied, poetic kind of language that reflects experience and offers it
containing forms… Because language is the primary medium of analysis, the notion
of ‘voice’ includes the ability to express oneself in images and embody experience in
metaphorical realisation; for the analyst, it involves more exposure than traditional
interpretation and fewer opportunities to hide behind a professional façade’ (Wright
2009:13). This principle can be seen clearly when an interpretation of a piece or
artwork remains at the basic level, failing to explore in depth greater potential for
meaning. A recent exhibition ‘Painter, Painter’ in Southampton City Art Gallery,
artists Dan Perfect and Fiona Rae are committed to expressionism and most language
of painting. Their deep interests are to contemporary art through experience deflection
of technology and cultural media.
Peter Fuller, British Art Critic, builds an idea of how the surface of a canvas is an
analogue to the mother’s expressive face for her infant. Fuller describes this, ‘as
responsive and mirroring extension of the self’ (1980). To explain this, the artist’s
canvas can be viewed as the surrogate adaptive mother. This is where the moulding of
the medium relates to the early mother, dependent upon how the artist wishes to
express emotional gestures. There is a driven need to make a good early absence,
which allows the artist to ‘hold’ their creation. An example of this may be the artist’s
experience of anxiety when faced with a blank canvas, signifying the infant’s anxiety
in the absence of a mother’s positive expression.

7 In my experiences of processing art, there is this fear. When an artist is looking towards this
blank canvas, it’s overwhelming. The emotions running through your head on how to begin to
create on this white blank material is powerful enough to make some hesitate. You want to
reflect a response like no other. I believe these feelings are connected and understood through
this theory. The transaction between artist and art can be wonderfully spoken or self-
destructing, depending on the artist’s mood and the end result that they would express.

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Applying Theory to Practise

Application of semiotics to the world of art can highlight elements in abstract art. ‘At
This Stage, 2001’ is highlighted by the colours, lines and movement of the
brushstrokes to display how Ayres is expressive. Bright rainbow colours in thick
layers of oil paints are strong in primal tribe art. The consistent over-layering is also
another reminder of how children would work on finger painting, not a care in mixing
colours or layers. There is a fondness to viewing the art. The colour, mostly reds,
pinks, and yellows, are the usual colours of passion. The brushstrokes are free and
open. The rainbows of this painting are like a romantic landscape. In Ayres’ ‘Ideal of
Beauty’ this is uplifting for the art world in the aesthetic approach used. By using
semiotics in colours, lines and brushstrokes this painting is seen to be communicating
a vibrant passionate landscape in a tribal freedom approach, which has become known
as Ayres signature style of an imaginative world.

9.At this
Stage,
2001

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This painting seems more focused and detailed, suggesting greater self-awareness and
a consciousness of the colours being used. To the audience, it feels like there an
overwhelming thought of wanting to view every single brushstrokes and pattern. It’s
memorising, which is very powerful to the eye.
To apply semiotics, there is the ordinary colour sign we see from Ayres’s signature.
As the artist, herself, the colours are a signification part in the ideal beauty that draws
a seduction attention to an audience’s eye. However as the viewer’s eye would be on
a consent traveling which can feel over-powering at first: all the colours are balance
out in allowing the eye to travel throughout. As if there is a magnet to this effect of
being drawn into the colours. The energy is exciting and quite playful even. Ayres
sees paintings and art more in form and materials. The imagination here to experience
Ayres’s energy to the painting is rousing. Semiotics approach here would ‘At This
Stage’ (2001) as a seductive exciting pattern of colours, sharply influencing the
design on the canvas, the over layering have more energy to the painting.
‘I need a gentle conversation’ (2012) by Fiona Rae, is compared to be the opposites

of Ayres’s style. There is a lighter colouring in choice, in sense that both artists may
have chosen these colours by the desire and texture of the paint. Rae uses more of a
richer gloss to her style by mixing both oils and acrylics into the painting. The
highlight of imagery as Cherry Blossom Tree originated from Japan and China can be
imaged by the audience as they view the small of Schrödinger’s Pandas within Rae’s
new latest style to her art. The gentle tones in colours of this painting in particular are
almost dreamlike and peaceful. Using the methods of explains this painting is
Semiotics; there this uplifting again, like Ayres, both subjects is of an imagery
landscape that audience could dream of exploring. Yet both artists use different tones
and shades of colours in their choice of mediums.

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FHEQ Level: 6
10. I need a gentle conversation
Another painting by Rae, ‘The sun throws my sorrow away’ (2012), seems more over
layering and heavy in the acrylic paint, compared to the ‘I need a gentle
conversation’. The awareness of the details are strong as you can notice that there
may be the possible of painting the canvas upside down from its final outcome. The
idea of ‘the sun’, this painting could reflect a sunset imagery landscape as it is
describing how the sun ‘throws away’ Rae’s sorrow and sadness. The mood of
colours encourages this subject to be like a sunset. The semiotics techniques here

23

FHEQ Level: 6
would understand the colouring mood in sunsets as a tranquilizing aesthetic effect.
This could be the responses from the audience as moving in feelings. The delicate
movement and smoothness of the paint on the canvas gives a gentle, almost caring
and lovingly laid out. Unlike Ayres, were there is vibrant and quick energy into the
thick paint moving across the paint, Rae is a more delicate approach to her paintings.
Even with quick gestures, it seems Rae is going softer attitude than Ayres in the
process of art. Almost as it there surrender to the pleasure of painting, yet still having
self-awareness too.
11. The sun

throws my
sorrow away

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FHEQ Level: 6
Conclusion
By examining the theme to understand the interpretation of language, Semiotics can
be used to explore art and abstract paintings. The methods are basic beginnings to
push the boundaries in this theory. Structuralism and Deconstruction are the two keys
to going into the thought processes in building the paintings up and how the paint is
layered or mixed into the style from which the artist expresses themself. Through the
signs and imagery an understanding of the communication has been developed. The
language of imagery is enabled to speak successfully. Abstract art, too can have signs
(like the meaning behind the colour) in that we can understand and analyse. In
particular this thought provoking discussion of the use of Semiotics in Abstract art
can be recognised and developed further by starting with the key ideas mentioned in
this dissertation.
The question being addressed in this study has led to the highlighting of several
methodology theories and has sought to identify the extent to which they contribute to
the analysis of Abstract art. In order to analyse Abstract art, it has been shown that
methodology theories can be the structure used to interpret art which will assist the
deconstruction of both the theory and practice of art. It has been shown that
Semiotics can be used as one distinctive theory as it communicates the visual meaning
of the artwork itself without focusing on the artist or their background. It has been
shown that the understanding of colour, texture, line, material and movement are all
methods used in this process. An example of this would be the use of the colour red,
universally understood as an aggressive, dangerous colour. The aggression could be
reinforced with the use of a strong gesture. However, the use of a soft motion would
suggest a more delicate interpretation of the art. Semiotics as a tool is, however,
limited due to its simplistic structure, although it supports and enables boundaries to
be extended.
Psychoanalysis, however, is focused on the interpretation created, together with the
meaning of audience responses. The theory of psychoanalysis can be challenging and
complex in its depth. Yet it is useful in highlighting the beginnings of an artist’s ideas
and an audience’s reactions as the theories seek to throw light onto the understanding

25

FHEQ Level: 6
of signs and colours in abstract art. Depending on individuals themselves, art can be
spoken in many languages and reactions to just one singular piece of abstract art.
Nevertheless, we can all have equally valid ideas about what the central meaning is
behind the artwork.

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FHEQ Level: 6
Bibliography
Books
1. Bal, Mieke and Bryson, Norman 1991:174-208 Semiotics and Art History Art
Bulletin
2. Bear, Mark and Connors, Barry and Paradiso, Michael 1996 (Third Edition 2007:620-
621) Neuroscience: Exploring the Brain Lippincott Williams & Wilkins
3. Bion, Wilfred Ruprecht 1965 Transformations Heinemann Medical Books, London
4. Brace, Nicola and Byford, Jovan 2010 Investigating Psychology: Key Concepts, Key
Studies, Key Approaches (Second Edition 2012) OUP Oxford
5. Cleaton-Roberts, David 2012 Gillian Ayres, The Complete Editions 1998-2012 Alan
Cristea Gallery
6. Freud, Sigmund 1915 The Unconscious Standard Edition
7. Fuller, Peter 1980 Art and Psychoanalysis Writers and Readers Cooperative, London
8. Jakobson, Roman 1963 Essais de linguistique générale Paris
9. Kant, Immanuel 1951 Critique of Judgement J.H. Bernard, New York
10. Klein, Melanie 1946 Developments in Psycho-Analysis Hogarth, London
11. Langer, Susanne 1942 Philosophy in a New Key MA: Harvard University Press,
Cambridge
12. Merleau – Ponty, Maurice 1964 Signs Richard Calverton McLeary, Chicago
13. Saussure, Ferdinard de 1966 Course in General Linguistics Wade Baskin
14. Schapiro, Meyer 1969:223-242 “On Some Problems in the Semiotics of Visual Art:
Field and Vehicle in Image Signs” Semiotica I
15. Schneider Adams, Laurie 1996 The Methodologies of Art; An Introduction (Second
Edition 2010) Westview Press
16. Segal, Hanna 1991 Dream, Phantasy, Art Routledge, London
17. Winnicott, Donald Woods 1960 The theory of the parent-infant relationship’
International Journal of Psycho-Analysis 41
18. Wright, Kenneth 2009 Mirroring and Attunement: Self-Realization in Psychoanalysis
and Art Routledge
Website
1. Southampton Art Gallery, 2014 18th July – 18th October Painter, Painter Fiona Rae
and Dan Perfect http://www.southampton.gov.uk/s-
leisure/artsheritage/sotonartgallery/exhibitions/painterpainter.aspx
2. Fiona Rae http://www.fiona-rae.com/
DVD
1. Harris, Ed 2012 Pollock Sony Pictures

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Madeline

Sparrow Dissertation Unit Code VPF612

How Can We Analyse Abstract

1. Round about Midnight, 2004

Supervisor : Atsuhide Ito

Linguistics & Semiotics 7

Relationship between Semiotics & Art 8

Application to Psychoanalysis & Art 19

Applying Theory to Practise 20

2. David Hockney, A Closer Winter Tunnel Feb/March 2006

5. The Ambassadors, Holbein 1533 http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/hans-holbein-the-younger-

6. Tender is the Night, 2006 Oil on Canvas 193.0 x 183.0 cm

7. Antony and Cleopatra 1982 Oil on Canvas 289.3 x 287.2 cm http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/ayres-

Linguistics & Semiotics

Relationship between Semiotics and Abstract Art

2. A Closer Winter Tunnel, Feb/March 2006

If we apply Saussure’s elements signifier, signified and signification to Gillian

3. Untitled Rome Series I, 1997

His symbols, however, depend on conventional meanings, as with Saussure’s signs.

5. The Ambassadors, Holbein 1533

6. Tender is the Night, 2006

7. Antony and Cleopatra, 1982

Semiotics, being a form of language, communication and signs, can be seen as a

Aesthetics play a vital role in life through offering a means of communicating

Application of Psychoanalysis to Art

As society’s understanding and interpretation the way people behave developed, so

In Winnicott’s perspective, ‘mirroring’ leads to offering an alternative concept of art.

Applying Theory to Practise

‘I need a gentle conversation’ (2012) by Fiona Rae, is compared to be the opposites

10. I need a gentle conversation

11. The sun

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