‘A patron cannot be surrounded by music or poems in the same way as he is surrounded by his pictures.’[1]
Somebody I know, instead of using wallpaper or paint, has taken pages from various books and pasted them along his wall. They hang like singular pieces of art that on the medium of a wall make up a whole. Each page is different, from a different part of a book, some from the beginning, some from the climax, some from a chapter break, and some from the end. Some even have small illustrations on them, some have thicker lines and harsher strokes, and others are softer. He has surrounded himself with memories, with triggers of happier times, with books that mean something to him. Being singular pages as they are, can they then be classed as pictures, as visual representatives, that in this instance mean more than words, and that they transform into art?
John Berger in his novel Ways of Seeing ponders upon the purpose and art of oil painting. The traditions of oil paintings attribute themselves to the language of possession and what it means to own and possess. The tradition, established between 1500 and 1900, was used as a means to portray to society materialistic wealth and possession. ‘Before they are anything else, they are themselves objects which can be bought and owned.’[2] Berger says that this can only be done to paintings, and that this form of visual possession and surrounding does not extend to literature or music in the same way. I am going to focus on this instance on literature. I believe that pages of books on walls was not something that Berger had yet come across and therefore the argument never transcended this way – but I think it does now. Knowing Berger through his words, I believe that this is something that would have caught his attention and his words.
Paintings are there to show the sights of what one does or may possess. Literature, on a wall, the words, the ideology, the metaphors, the houses, the lives, the imaginations, there to seen by and to be shown to others, become a form of what the owner possesses, literally, metaphorically and spiritually – arguably like that of a painting. Because a painting is never an exact, it’s a reproduction of reality, morphed into paint, likewise, words are a reproduction of a reality, whether it be in the literal sense or in the imaginative sense, morphed into black ink on white pages. He has taken literature and made it art. Reproducing words into a stand-alone pictures, or paintings, as it has literally been painted, pasted, onto a wall.
Does it make it more alive? The insinuation of possession is incredibly active in its literal sense, and people can be consumed by literature, but never really possessed. Does painting it on a wall move it into the realm of possession? Paintings are intended to make you stop and look, to draw you in and consume all its parts, all its flavours and all its colours. When pages are put on a wall, it demands the same attention, it makes you look, decipher, translate, read – you are transported to the actions you take in a gallery. Literature is becoming art, more readily than it ever has before. Pages are not just found on walls, but in antique shops selling pages of books in frames. Literature, as we know it, is now becoming something else. It’s becoming something more possessable, showing to the other that the words written on a page can reflect what a person is, or has, or wants.
To say that we ‘cannot be surrounded by poems’, is now incorrect. We are literally becoming surrounded by literature that has translated itself into art. Instead of it being a sport of the mind, it’s becoming a sport of the eyes, for the possessor and those who know of the possessor.
Art, and paintings, are opening up their arms to others. It’s moving with society, as we move, change, evolve, so does our art. Our panarchy extends to our creation. And this to me is incredibly heart-warming, knowing that we take the depths of ourselves, the most beautiful and the most creative outside of creation, with us in this journey called life. It means that my presence, the presence of others, can continually share in a language and a communication that provides solace, peace, comfort just by it being with us. Whether it is possessed or not, we can hold it close to our hearts, this is our wealth, knowing that our dearest means as much as those paintings that hang on the wall in old stately homes. We are actively bringing possession out into the open and back into our lives. We are beginning to own the beauty we want to see, take responsibility and bring a better way for us and for all.
This to me possessing literature, making it bring a better. Especially when that literature is the word. Paste it on your walls, let them see, let them read, let them possess this love too.
Move onto arguaion about bookcases and bookspines as awell as that bevaomes a type of art form.
[1] John Berger, Ways of Seeing (London: Penguin Books, 2008), p. 85.
[2] Berger, p. 85.