26

Am I Being Too Literal?

NOT EVERY SUBJECT IS BEST EXPRESSED LITERALLY. The discussion of symbols in the previous chapter is an acknowledgement of that. Trying to fit a more abstract subject into forms that are only appropriate for literal subjects, or vice versa, will only lead to creative frustration and confusion. There are times when making the subject a symbol, asking it to represent something larger, is appropriate to your vision.

But there may be times when you ask it to be less specific. A symbol relies on an association with a known object: this means that. As we approach abstraction, we distance ourselves from identifiable objects and their meaning and ask instead, “What does this mean to you, if anything?” Abstraction is often interested in feeling and frequently relies on shape and colour that have no specific meaning in an image. The issue of meaning is left to others.