Mark C. Taylor - The Picture in Question

The Picture in Question

For Louise Bremerman

Repeatedly returning to Tansey's work during the past several years, I have continued to be impressed not only by the quality of his paintings but also by the care with which he reads and responds to different philosophical texts. Unlike so many twentieth-century artists and critics, Tansey realizes that representation and figuration are very complex and, in the final analysis, remain unavoidable. His sophisticated understanding of the Western philosophical tradition enables him to grasp the far-reaching implications of the artistic issues he so thoughtfully probes.

While pondering Tansey's paintings and reflecting on the problems they pose, I have begun to achieve greater clarity about my own work. Though the characters are not always the same, Tansey's paintings plot a story that parallels the philosophical and theological tale I have been developing for many years. Whether this story is mine or his, I do not knownor do I think it matters. What I do know is that living with Tansey's pictures has opened new ways for me to think through old preoccupations. From my early studies of modern philosophy and theology in the writings of Hegel and Kierkegaard, through lengthy considerations of structuralism and poststructuralism, to more recent forays into chaos and complexity theory, I have found myself returning again and again to a single problem: the intricate interplay between temx porality and representation in human existence. A paradoxical problem in human life, I have long believed, is not how to overcome time but how to affirm its passage by embracing the arising and passing away that does not arise or pass away. Nothing lasts because all is in endless transition. Time, in other words, is the inescapable medium of our existence. For those with eyes to see, this wisdom is implicit in the disruptive faults and fissures as well as the turbulent cataracts and clouds of Tansey's most complex and provocative paintings.

It may be appropriate that a book devoted to the "end(s) of representation" should have no images. Nonetheless, when I initially proposed this study, I expected it to include representations of approximately thirty of Tansey's paintings. Tansey, for his part, agreed to collaborate by selecting for the book previously unpublished studies of some of his most important works, and we met twice to discuss the format of the book and to begin the process of deciding which studies would be most effective. In the months between these conversations and the completion of the manuscript, Tansey had a change of heart and refused to have any of his work reproduced. Though several personal and professional factors seem to have contributed to this about-face, the most interesting and substantive reason he offered was his fear that my interpretation would reinforce the widespread criticism of his work for being primarily illustrative. He repeatedly emphasized that he wanted to shift directions by moving from what he described as a top-down to a bottom-up approach that would allow the pictures to speak for themselves, and he asserted that the publication of my book would make it difficult if not impossible for people to appreciate this change in his work.

This unexpected turn of events is ironic. The ideas Tansey explores have always been my point of contact with his work, and over the years he and I have had many conversations about difficult theoretical issues. At times, indeed, it seemed to me that Tansey's painting and my writing mirrored one another in pursuit of the same philosophical problems. From my point of view, the distinction between a top-down and a bottom-up approach is specious. Furthermore, no picture speaks for itself, least of all when concept and image, xi idea and representation, theory and practice are as inseparable as they are in Tansey's pictures. Claims to the contrary notwithstanding, Tansey, unlike some of his harshest critics, not only shares this insight but continues to explore its implications in his work. Of course, to stress the importance of a philosophical or theoretical interpretation of Tansey's art, as I do in this book, is not to deny the relevance of other accounts of his work.

For the convenience of readers who are not already familiar with Tansey's paintings, I have included a list of references indicating where reproductions of his work can be found. With the exception of one painting (Transition Team), all the pictures I discuss have been published in books or catalogs that are readily available. Many even circulate freely on the World Wide Web.

As I look back on that August afternoon eight years ago, Tansey's work now seems timely in new ways. What I saw on display at the Media Lab was a world in which reality and image rapidly become indistinguishable. When the virtual seems real and the real appears virtual, many artistic, philosophical, social, and political questions of representation assert their urgency anew. Far from avoiding or repressing representation, we must learn how to reconceive its ends by finding different ways to figure and refigure the complex networks that constitute the media of our lives. By putting the picture in question, Tansey forces us to confront issues that extend far beyond the painted surface of the canvas. The longer one studies his work, the clearer it becomes that, in a culture increasingly governed by images and representations, these pictures are not only good to loo\ at but are also good to thin\ with. To think with Tansey is to look at ourselves and our worlds differently. It is toward this end that the following pages are directed.