Semiotics

Semiotics is the study of signs, Signs which appear everyday in contemporary society. Semiotics relate primarily to language and the way that we understand things through relating words with concepts. For instance if an object is mentioned in conversation one will always associate the word with an image of the object mentally. This is how language works as if we all had different words for the same object we would not be able to communicate.
One example of the use of semiotic signs in art is in Rene Magritte’s painting (seen above). The caption below the image reads ‘Ceci nes pas une Pipe’ or ‘This is not a Pipe’. This makes the viewer think about the image in a different way; his point is that it is not a pipe but that it is a painting of a pipe it is a representation of an object but not the object itself. On looking at the image the viewer is thinking “it’s a pipe” but on reading the caption (providing they understood it) would think again, question their own ideas, work the idea out or simply reinterpret the message completely. This makes for a very god piece of art as it has made the viewer stop and think about what they have seen. I also think that this painting raises questions about the values we bestow to inanimate objects in order to make them more human, more understandable and less cold and lifeless.