Against Theory—Again (Though with Reservations)

Authors

Ivan Gaskell, Bard Graduate CenterFollow

Abstract

In Thinking with Images (2019), John Carvalho proposes an “aesthetics without theory,” a phrase to be taken rhetorically rather than literally, for he accepts that percipients of artworks bring a theoretical knowledge to their encounters. He seeks to balance appropriate theoretical knowledge, notably Gibson’s theory of affordances, with reliance on empirical engagement with artworks to produce what he terms an “enactivist aesthetics.” He explores this proposal through discussion of four case studies: works by Francis Bacon, Duane Michals, Marcel Duchamp, and Jean-Luc Godard. This overview challenges Carvalho’s concern with meaning above making and use; and his apparent reluctance to offer an account of criteria by which to judge precisely which theories that form a part of a percipient’s “repertoire of skills” might “contribute to our thinking with a work of art.” A discussion of what might justifiably be claimed from an inspection of prototypes (originals) and reproductions concludes the article.