Medium, subject matter and representation

Southern Journal of Philosophy 41 (1):45-62 (2003)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

I argue that the physical marks on a canvas resulting from an artist's intentional, stylistic and expressive acts cannot themselves be the artist's expression, but instead they serve to signify or indicate those acts. Thus there is a kind of indicative content associated with a picture that is distinct from its subject matter (or 'representational content'). I also argue that this kind of indicative content is closely associated with the specific artistic medium chosen by the artist as her expressive medium, for which reason I call this kind of content medium content (or medium-related content).

Author's Profile

John Dilworth
Western Michigan University

Analytics

Added to PP
2009-01-28

Downloads
1,555 (#8,320)

6 months
205 (#12,415)

Historical graph of downloads since first upload
This graph includes both downloads from PhilArchive and clicks on external links on PhilPapers.
How can I increase my downloads?