Discussion Post #2

1. Berger says the process of seeing is not “natural” but that it’s shaped by habits and conventions because every individual has a different perspective on how they see things. Like it said in the video the eye is like a narrow lighthouse going in. The eye can only see what is in front and depending on the person many habits can change the way they see things. Habits is an action an individual likes to do repetitively and this can lead to the way they perceive events or people. Conventions can be influenced by the specific event or character, items, etc. They shape the way we see things by the way it impacts on feels, mind, beliefs, likes or dislikes. This is significant because a viewers perspective had a lot to do with the way they think, feel and will say about an artwork. They can see it completely differently than what the painter intended to show and say.
   
2. The camera changes our senses of perception depending on the way one sees things. Perception changes when there different colors, sizes, styles, angles and arrangements. The camera has changed our engagement with works of art by having a deeper intimacy with it. Photographers tend to express a lot of feelings through their photographs, the same with painters. They want to send a message of anger, sadness, happiness, etc. through every stroke or click. Berger uses the term “stillness” and “silence” to describe paintings because he’s trying to show that no painting can move like a TV. The picture stays the same without changing making it so eye-catching. But it’s silence can be easily manipulated when an individual looks or rearranges it, it loses its original meaning. Seeing artwork in a museum is different than seeing it in a book or TV because the authenticity of a painting isn’t the same anymore. You don’t fully see the painting like it’s meant to be, it changes when it’s seen elsewhere. You need to be right in front of it to get every inch and not a “reproduction” of one.
3. Berger describes reproductions of paintings becoming a “form of information” because it’s become a way of spreading to people the desire of purchasing an original one. Doing this it loses its uniqueness. Talking with reproductions means the different ways someone sees and feels about the painting. A artwork becomes transmittable.