How much the name of the work will change its essence, and how the work itself will affect the name?
I propose to consider this issue on an example of a quickly composed composition of stone and apple. Two objects are painted the same colour to create a connection between them. Additionally, a light lamp is used, so that the shadow from the apple falls on the stone. The word VODKA is written on an apple. In the proposed embodiment, the art object uses fluorescent paint and a black light lamp. The work remains unchanged until the apple has decayed or petrified, then a new apple with a new word is placed in its place.
If we assume that we are presented with a work titled “Untitled”. Thus, perhaps the author, excluding the possibility of any name, allowed us to reflect outside of any name. So, we will refer to the names of objects familiar to us, but in this artwork, in my opinion, the lack of explanation (name) will not give us the right direction in finding the meaning of the work.
Further, suppose the work is called "The Stone and the Apple." In the consciousness, a contrast arises between something solid, heavy, unchanging and relatively pliable, porous, light and alive. Why are these items selected? Perhaps we will take this fact as a given, proposed by the author of the work. But what is the relationship between the stone and the apple? One does not grow from the other, but an apple can rot or dry out and turn into a kind of stone ?! So, the author probably wants us to see this connection and went into the category of reference values. Why is vodka written on an apple? Vodka is a strong alcoholic drink, and since the author of the work is a Russian artist, this drink was not chosen by chance. But why was it necessary to write this word on an apple, and not on a piece of paper? What is an apple? An apple is something edible, it was once eaten by Adam. So, can there be an apple as a symbol of sin? Yes, it can be. A strong alcoholic drink is one of these sins. Gluttony, drunkenness. This sin casts a shadow on a stone. Then the question arises - what is a stone in a rhetorical sense? Human? Nature? Here it is impossible to conclude because of the large number of possible options.
Then, how can the work itself affect this name - “Stone and Apple”? Probably not at all, because this is what is in front of us in fact. We can identify both the apple and the stone by their shape, even if their colour does not match the natural one.
As Arthur Danto wrote, “A title is more than a name; frequently it is a direction for interpretation or reading” ... (Danto, 1981, p. 3) then we’ll try to name the work “The Influence of Sin on the Universe”. It immediately becomes clear that the apple represents sin, and the stone represents the universe.
They are dependent on each other and even sin (an apple) “casts” a shadow on the universe. But the title does not represent the passage of time for the viewer. After all, the viewer looked at the work for a minute and moved on. Perhaps he will not return next time, and the essence of the apple change will go unnoticed. Then we can adjust the name to - “Universe, Sin and Time”. So we introduced another component that seems to exist, but it was weightless and insignificant. Now, the viewer is clear that over time, something will change and most likely - an apple. It shrinks, grows mouldy, it will decrease in size and, accordingly, the shadow from it will change, decrease and then completely disappear.
How does the work itself affect this title? Since these three names (the universe, sin and time) are cannot be represented in any particular object, the presence of at least two objects gives us an idea of how these events can look.
The only concept of time we can not define. Therefore, you can refine the artwork with a camera (smartphone), which will conduct continuous broadcasting on the network, which will allow you to see the changes in the apple in real-time. In this case, a camera with real-time mode will be a subject reflection of time. Or will it not? After all, there is no answer to what time is? You can’t touch it. And what is sin, in the end? Something from this is bad, but it happens, that from sin someone is happy. The duality of concepts or perception of the same phenomenon or object will give different results.
Therefore, probably, any artwork is only an attempt to give an interpretation to the existing, as well as the opportunity to look at something ordinary from a different angle. The title of the work, including the name “untitled”, is an integral part of the work itself. It will either give hints and directions for understanding the object of art or simply will be absent, providing complete autonomy to the visual image.
Bibliography and references
1. Danto A., (1981) The Transfiguration of the Commonplace, Harvard University Press
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