I spent my Saturday walking around the art galleries in New York City, and, perhaps, that is why I am so interested in the way that an image, sound, or text makes one feel.

This week I wanted to execute a  brief close reading of Dickinson’s “I started Early–Took my Dog–” because I thought that it might be interesting to examine the ways in which Dickinson and Whitman both experience the sea in complex and different ways concerning identity.

Artwork by Silas Marder

Dickinson writes:

“But no Man moved Me–till the Tide

Went past my simple Shoe–”

Dickinson is reflecting upon the way that nature–the ocean to be more specific–has instilled a feeling in her that had not been achieved by “Man.”  The usage of the word man could play in multivalent ways here.  One possible interpretation could be that “Man” could represent the species of huMan that constructs and deconstructs the world.  Another interpretation could be “Man” in the cisgendered pervue–the male sex; if this is how one chose to read this line, then it would add a particularly interesting queer register–for nature, the object that inspires sentiment, is typically personified as performing the female gender.  The two potential readings of this poem differ drastically from each other, and, I think, this illustrates the nature of the interpretation of art and literature.  This mode of expression has the ability to not only operate as a vehicle through which the artist may express him/herself, but it is also shared and inspires sentiments in viewers.  This sort of engagement also happens, as both Whitman and Dickinson write, through the experience of nature.  It’s quite amazing that what we read when we read either Dickinson, Whitman, or any other writer who reflects upon the experience of nature as an aesthetic experience, we are experience the nature and the art through the artistic transformation and interpretation of nature.

To tie this to my trip to NYC: I went to an exhibit at the Pace Gallery in Chelsea–between 10th and 11th Ave on 25th, I think–and the exhibit was a compilation of nude photographs by an artist named Chuck Close.  He presented the images, primarily in black and white, or men and women completely exposed and relaxed in front of the camera.  He presented the beauty of nature to the viewer, and also humanized the experience of both beauty in nature by doing so.  There are, it seems, some intrinsic–maybe even spiritual experiences, or transformations that one can undergo while viewing art.  I say viewing, and not “looking at,” because viewing seems to be a much more engaging way of looking.

 

Because I wasn’t going to post pictures of naked people here–even if it is in the name of art–I figured I’d post a different piece from the artist I had seen: A work by Chuck Close!