A Vastly Different Perspective

The location where we stand and the angle with which we look determine the appearance of what we see and draw. This is also known as the viewpoint of a picture.

Consider a static object. Depending on the perspective one takes, it can appear many different ways. In motion there are even more possibilities. Whether it is the object itself or we who are looking at it that moves, the object will appear quite different. However, it is only by repeatedly changing perspective and viewing objects, that we can avoid being “blinded” by our own way of looking at things and gather the information we need to see an object’s entire reality.

Thus, our own movement or that of the objects around us gives us an opportunity to see more these objects in an increasing number of ways. We observe things through our eyes. Our location and viewing angle enable us to see but one face of an object, not its entirety. Only through movement do we see intersection and overlap, observe an object’s distance in relation to other objects, and form a sense of layered texture. And in movement an object’s size and thickness enable us to acquire a sense of depth. And it is also in movement that we discover the relationship between ourselves and the objects surrounding us.

The location from which we view an object, our distance from it, and our orientation determine the appearance of the object we see. A distance can be near or far, deep or shallow, high or low; we may look up or down, left or right, forward or backward. When distance and orientation change, what we see is also much different.

Factors affecting our visibility such as or the position of our eyes, also known as vantage point, viewing distance, and line of visibility, all affect perspective. When we look at a picture, we can tell the perspective that its creator chose, whether it be the planar, elevated, depressed and side views common in Western art, or the height, depth and distance of Chinese brush painting. And though the technological age has long eclipsed the original limitations of our visual imaginations, the ability to zoom and enlarge has enabled us to glimpse the myriad of phenomena in the microscopic and macroscopic worlds.

Visual education training has taught me that only by understanding visual space can one grasp pictorial space. Educators believe that by varying the study of pictorial space, we can guide children to adopt different viewpoints and perspectives, gain control over the real-world physical space around them, and apply their learning in the creation of a “pictorial space.”

It is important to understand that time and space are not static; they are both in motion. In art class, students are encouraged “to take a look from another perspective.” The purpose of such an action is to develop behavior that is both structured and purposeful: in creating a work with perspective, one must understand how to choose a variety of shapes and colors from the myriad of visual stimuli before them and apply a flexible set of space manipulation techniques.

The hope of art education is that training and observation of the physical world will enable viewers to see things through different perspectives, transform visual phenomena to psychological phenomena, and adopt a psychological perspective towards what they see. The flexible and carefree nature of artists often arises from the free and easy nature with which they view the world. This is also an important technique in artistic training – to leave our usual visual habits behind and see things from a different perspective.

The purpose of aesthetic education is not only to develop the vision and field of art or to nurture alternative forms of artistic creation. It is also our hope that through education, we will be able to start from the physical world, continue on to pictorial space, and finally, to develop the habit of considering our psychological selves from many different perspectives. Our ultimate motive is to venture forth into an ever wider and loftier emotional plane.