On The Construction Of Visual Context In "Reading" Painting From The Perspective Of Semiotics

As a branch of the art creation, the way artists show their subjective attitude,the symbolic nature of painting works is also obvious.A complete painting works is not only a complete existing sign carrier, but also a unity, which is composed of the different visual symbolic elements.Clive Bell, a British art theorist, put forward in the《Art》, the essence of art is that it is "a meaningful form".The "meaning" is a comprehensive product, in terms of painting, it is a kind of spiritual direction, which is produced by the diversification of visual elements, is a kind of emotional expression, the feeling of the transmission.It is also because of particularity of the "form" of the construction of visual context, in the process to building "means", give people a unique feeling of boundless.Based on the theory of semiotics as the starting point, this paper focuses on how to "read" the "artistic conception" in the painting, so as to better feel the "meaning" of the paintings.The "meaning" in painting works belongs to the category of spiritual.The creators express their own feelings, emotions and life activities, through the subjective construction of visual symbol elements to show the corresponding situation,to convey a sense of "the life being felt ".The viewer then transforms these visual symbolic elements into their own understanding through their own image thinking and abstract thinking.This "the life being felt " in this process is understooded by another individual, even if the viewer has not had a personal experience.Regardless of the artist’s creation is based on the description of objective or subjective emotional expression, "artistic conception" can not be separated from the visual sign and independent existence.The America semiologist,Peirce,insist that the existence of symbols depends on three aspects:Symbolic adoption、The things signified by signs、The sense and meaning of sign,These three aspects explain the form of visual symbol elements.It is divided into three different types of existence: icon、index、symbol.These three are unique, and can be transformed into each other.The development of visual symbol elements tends to be diversified and varied.The understanding of the art language of painting need to be built on the open mind,In the same picture, there may be different visual symbol elements,in the process of "reading" paintings, it is needed to refer the time perspective of the paintings, the background of the times and the regional perspective, and the fusion of different visual signs,to make a comprehensive study.