Notes Toward an Understanding of the Unique Relation
of Manual Image Making to Temporality
All the representations of consciousness that constitute the various arts are brought into being within the temporal dimension. In addition, all require the temporal dimension to be communicated and apprehended, except for those in the area of manual image making. Writing, music, film, drama, dance-- all unfold in time; require a temporal dimension in which to be communicated. Representations that consist of a single image*, however, do not: they may be apprehended in an instant, despite the fact that they may represent untold hours of labor. While this is, clearly, a statement of the obvious, it is nevertheless worth exploring.
To clarify: while it is certainly true that we may spend many a moment examining and pondering an image, this time is not strictly required for its apprehension: communication from the image through the eye to the consciousness may take place instantaneously and the same examination and pondering may take place with the image residing in the mind’s eye. This is not the case with the other aforementioned forms, all of which require the temporal dimension for communication and apprehension. To listen to a piece of music, to watch a dance, drama or film, to read a poem-- all require the passage of time. In short: while we are able to perceive the existence of a temporal dimension in many if not all works of manual image creation, this temporal dimension is not required for the communication and apprehension of this perception.
The following examination will require several specific investigations. Let's start with a discussion on the epistemological differences between photography and manual image creation that will be based on their respective relations to and with the temporal dimension.
That there is a difference between a photographic image and a manually created image is a statement of the obvious that everyone will agree on. But what exactly is the nature of the difference? There is a radical difference between a photograph and a manually created image that can be isolated in the temporal dimension. The photograph-- at least prior to the development of digital photography-- required a varying period of time for the latency of the image to be actualized through a series of chemical processes, yet the actual creation of the image has always been, for all intents and purposes, instantaneous. Now, clearly, there are exceptions to this statement: there are time-exposures that-- for example-- make rather than simply take an image of the night sky that shows the movement of the stars; there are many darkroom techniques that alter and modify the simple instantaneous image, effectively incorporating manual image making into the photographic process. Nevertheless, the creation of the photographic image, in general, can be stated to be an instantaneous process that nearly perfectly mirrors the manner in which it is communicated and apprehended. The photograph is entirely atemporal as the other arts are entirely temporal.
The manually created image, by contrast, bridges the two regions. Its creation is entirely dependent on and intimately bound up with the temporal dimension, yet its communication and apprehension are not. Only the manually created image can communicate time spent without spending time to do so; only the manually created image enables the apprehension of the temporal dimension without requiring the temporal dimension to do so.
Now let's take a look at drawing.
Drawing is the bridge between image making and writing; especially abstract (or non-figurative, non-objective, or concrete, if you prefer) drawing, in which the object represented may not necessarily correspond directly to anything in the material world -- many practitioners of which have consciously linked their art to calligraphy, which is the ultimate synthesis of writing and drawing. More than any of the other methods of image creation, drawing is intimately tied up in rhythm in ways that are quite closely related to writing, music-- both in composition and performance-- film-making-- especially cinematography (think camera movements) and editing-- drama-- especially in the pacing of the delivery-- and, perhaps most of all, to dance. Yet a drawing, unlike all these other forms-- does not require the temporal dimension for its contents and significance to be communicated. It can occur instantaneously; for all intents and purposes outside of time as far as the operations of our sensual apparatus are concerned. Yet this is so despite the fact that the creation of a drawing is in some cases intimately involved with the rhythms of the temporal dimension, to the point in some cases of deriving its meaning and significance from this dimension; again, despite not requiring it for its communication.
This ability of drawing to communicate rhythm-- a fundamentally temporal characteristic-- outside of time may constitute a rupture in our conception of time.
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*A note: While sculpture and even architecture may be held-- based on the definition herein provided-- to constitute an image, for the sake of brevity neither will be discussed here.