From The Forces Of Anchaos To Utopian Imagination

Using W.J.T.Mitchell’s theory of iconographic research as a method,this paper analyzes the visual cultural symbols and artistic language used in the works of artist Matthew Barney,examining their inner structure and the cultural significance of the works.Matthew Barney’s works often use a large number of symbolic images,constructing a visual metaphorical existence different from the real world using media forms such as video,performance,and photography,and the interpretation of images has a complex multiplicity of meanings.With regard to the image,Mitchell divides it into a genealogy of images,visuals,perceptions,mentalities and words,each of which has its own discursive core.When Matthew Barney’s works are read from the perspective of the genealogy of the image,it is clear that the image conceals a distorted and shape-shifting mechanism of reproduction,and that the core concept of "inhibition and liberation" in his works is transformed into a stacking and conflict of structures,stories,versions,and images.Mitchell proposes the "image turn" and "meta-image",discussing the transformation relationship between image and image,going beyond hermeneutics to explore how images gain life,helping us to open up the complex system of image understanding,and freeing images from the slavery of language through a post-linguistic way of understanding.It helps us to open up the complex system of image understanding and to free images from the slavery of language through post-linguistic understanding.Viewing is as profound as interpreting,and we still need language for the image.The fragmentation between image and text implies a "pictorial turn" arising from the fear of image.The pictorial metaphor in Matthew Barney’s "The Loop of the Hanging Wire" can be found in Mitchell’s pictorial theory as a response to the characteristics of the times.This paper attempts to use Mitchell’s iconographic theory to discuss the questions of "what is the image" and "what does the image want" to dig deeper and ask questions about the image of Matthew Barney’s works.By analyzing the contexts and ideas expressed in Matthew Barney’s works,we consider his works as a whole of visual images and analyze the image fear and image turn in the Western contemporary art form.The interplay of images in this image-turn mapped the power of disorder,and the fear of images originated from the utopian imagination of contemporary people.