What Is Representation?
Representation by definition the action of speaking or acting on behalf of someone or the state of being so represented. The description or portrayal of someone or something in a particular way. formal statements made to an authority, especially so as to communicate an opinion or register a protest.1
For something to be considered an artwork does it have to represent or imitate something?
According to Plato ‘Art is imitation and imitation is bad’
The problems with imitation according to Plato:
Epistemological: An imitation is at three removes from the reality or truth of something (example of bed).
Theological: Poets and other artists represent the gods in inappropriate ways.
Moral and Psychological: A good imitation can undermine the stability of even the best humans by making us feel sad, depressed, and sorrowful about life itself.
According to Aristotle ‘Art is imitation, and that’s all right, even good.’
Imitation is natural to humans from childhood.
Imitation is how children learn, and we all learn from imitations.
Tragedy can be a form of education that provides moral insight and fosters emotional growth.
Tragedy is the imitation (mimesis) of certain kinds of people and actions.
Good tragedies must have certain sorts of people and plots. (Good people experience a reversal of fortune due to some failing or hamartia.)
A successful tragedy produces a katharsis in the audience.
Katharsis = purification through pity and fear.2
Sources
1 https://drawpaintacademy.com/representational-art/#:~:text=Representational%20art%20refers%20to%20art,which%20already%20exists%20in%20life
2 https://uh.edu/~cfreelan/courses/1361/tragedy.html
Image
Sad Tommy by Andrew Salgado. Courtesy of Beers Contemporary
http://www.eastendreview.co.uk/2015/08/27/fantasy-of-representation-review/
Johann Anton Eismann, Meerhaven. 17th c. Work is in the public domain
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/sac-artappreciation/chapter/oer-1-4/
Dai al-Azzawi, Mission of Destruction, 2019
https://www.moma.org/calendar/events/6417
