#david perkins

[dance-world]

Holly Wilder and Elijah Dillehay - photo by David Perkins - @thephotopiper

[last-picture-show]

/ David Perkins, Dancers In Their Own Homes, 2015

[usunezukoinezu]

''We need to look persistently and intelligently. Most (art) works are like this-largely invisible at first, they gradually reveal themselves to the patient eye and mind. Indeed, the invisibility of art is virtually a logical consequence of how art functions as a symbol system. Nelson Good man in his Languages of Art emphasizes that works of art are ''dense and replete'' - the nuances along virtually any dimension count as significant parts of a work and influence the substance and tone of its statement. With so much to see, how could we expect to see it easily?''

-David Perkins, The Intelligent Eye

[usunezukoinezu]

''Thinking through looking''…has a double meaning: The looking we do should be thought through, and thoughtful looking is a way to make thinking better.

-David Perkins, The Intelligent Eye

[usunezukoinezu]

''…thinking dispositions are more than skills or strategies…a disposition is a felt tendency commitment, and enthusiasm. Much thinking done under the guidance of our experiential intelligence is accomplished quickly, without focus or clarity. …a different form of intelligence, the reflective intelligence is necessary to direct and manage the tremendous resources of experiential intelligence.''

Mary Ann Stankiewicz, foreword for David Perkins's The Intelligent Eye

[usunezukoinezu]

''Most of us suffer from an illusion that might be called the completeness of perception. We think that because we have pointed our eyes at something, we see what is there to be seen. But we are profoundly mistaken. We take in a scene holistically without realizing how partially we are seeing it, how schematic our perceptions generally are. For a truly intelligent eye, we need to get beyond the limits of experiential intelligence. To do that, we need to understand those limits better.''

-David Perkins, The Intelligent Eye

[usunezukoinezu]

''Art is invisible in two important ways--what awaits and what hides. For the first, much of the art in the art awaits finding. It simply is not seen at first. To get the most out of the work, you need to find it. For the second, the artist's strategies are hidden, like backstage machinery. If you find that sort of thing interesting, you may want to search out what hides as well as what awaits. Moreover, discovering what hides may feed back to disclose more of what awaits, which you missed when you sought it directly. ''

-David Perkins, The Intelligent Eye

[usunezukoinezu]

Looking at art requires thinking - art must be ''thought through''. …and thoughtful looking is a way to make thinking better.

-David Perkins, The Intelligent Eye